A Detailed Examination of Shilajit: Composition, Benefits, and Risks

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Shilajit, a natural substance found in mountain ranges, particularly the Himalayas and Hindu Kush. It details Shilajit's composition, primarily fulvic acids and minerals, and its historical use as an adaptogen, rejuvenator, and anti-aging agent. The report discusses its potential health benefits, including increased testosterone levels, improved cognitive function, and its role in potentially preventing Alzheimer's disease and managing chronic fatigue syndrome. It also highlights the risks associated with consuming unpurified Shilajit, such as heavy metal contamination. The analysis includes a review of scientific research, clinical studies, and traditional uses of Shilajit, offering a balanced perspective on its benefits and potential drawbacks. The report emphasizes the importance of purified Shilajit and the factors influencing its potency and purity. Finally, it also mentions its use as a component of Ayurvedic medicine and its role in promoting overall health and longevity.

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Title: Importance of Shilajit

Shilajit is a pale or black brown stick substance that exudates from rocks on mountain
ranges. It is common in the Himalayas and Hindu Kush ranges in India.it has also been found
in Tibet, Russia, Afghanistan and Chile, where is called Andean Shilajit (Camejo et al. 2011).
In India it has a couple of names like salajit, mummiyo, mimmie and shalajat It is composed
of decomposing organic substance microbial and plant metabolites that appear on the rock
rhizospheres. Carrasco-Gallardo, Guzman and Maccioni (2012), think shilajit originates from
decomposition of plant materials of Euphrobia roylean and trifolium repens species. Other
research indicate that molds such as Thuidium, Fissidens, Pellia and Asterella can generate
shilajit.
Shilajit has been used for over thousand years as an adaptogen, a rejuvenator and an
anti-aging agent. Recent research shows that it can be used as an anti-inflammatory,
antioxidant and in reducing anxiety. As part of it other traditional medicinal functions, it has
been linked with miraculous healing (Gaikward et al., 2012). According to the ancient Indian
shilajit has two main characteristics, promoting human health and increasing body physical
strength. It has been discovered, through research, that using purified organic shilajit
improves mitochondrial function by increasing the availability of adenosine triphosphate
(Bhattacharyya et al., 2009). In men, it increases the amount of testosterone to between 19 to
31 percent (Pandit et al. 2016) and improving muscular strength.
Molecular composition
The major component of Shilajit is fulvic acids and dibenzo α pyrones (Keller et al.,
2019). According to Stohs (2014), it also contains more than 40 minerals regarded as
ingredients in diet supplements. Carrasco-Gallardo et al. (2012) claim that shilajit is made up
of humic compounds and oligoelements such as selenium which contains the anti-aging
properties, with fulvic acid accounting for between 60 to 80 percent of the total composition.

Degradation of organic substances like vegetal material, through microbial action is thought
to be the source of the humic substances (Mittal et al., 2009). The components of shilajit are
divided according to their pH and solubility in water. Humins are insoluble in water
regardless of the pH. Humic acid has a molecular weight of between 5 to 10 kDa and is
soluble in water under alkaline conditions. Fulvic is soluble in water and has a molecular
weight of around 2 kDa. Due to its low molecular weight, fulvic acid is easily absorbed in the
body and excreted within a short time (Vucskits et al., 2010). The curative properties
attributed to shilajit could be due to the percentage level of fulvic acid, putting into
consideration that fulvic acid is a strong antioxidant and could be used as a complement
activator (Schepetkin, Xie and Quinn, 2009). Research in Chile showed that shilajit had an
oxygen radical absorption capacity (ORAC) index of 50- 500 trolox units per gram.
According to Carrasco-Gallardo et al., (2012), shilajit also contains fatty acids, latex, gum,
eldagic acid, amino acids, phenolic acids, sterols, albumin, resins and carboxylic acids.
The potency and purity of shilajit is dependent on the altitude and location it has been
harvested, its purification techniques and its quality. Shilajit has four different qualities. The
gold grade (highest grade) contains all the legendary properties. To identify if its original, one
has to see it color and the rock it has been harvested before purification, with the gold grade
being harvested from gold colored rocks.
Uses and benefits of shilajit
As a component is ayurvedic medicine, shilajit has been used as a rasayana. Among
its health benefits include reducing aging, rejuvenating and longevity. Traditionally, it was
taken as breakfast with milk by the people of India and Nepal. The Sherpas, whose
population is made up of strong men with high healthy longevity claim that shilajit is always
a crucial part of their diet. According to research by Cornejo et al. (2011) Andrean shilajit

improves cognitive disorders and stimulates cognitive human activity. Shilajit can be used to
prevent Alzheimer’s disease as an attribute to fulvic acid action in prevention of tau self-
aggregation. Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder causing behaviour and memory defects.
There are treatment for this disease, but according to research on shilajit, researchers claim
that it could be used to slow down or prevent the effects of Alzheimer’s disease (Wilson,
2017). Fulvic acid, which is a powerful antioxidant, prevents the accumulation of tau protein.
This protein is found in the nervous system and its build up stimulates damage of nerve cells.
Though more research on the effect of shilajit on Alzheimer’s disease are ongoing,
researchers and scientists think shilajit can decrease inflammation and stop the accumulation
of the tau proteins.
Shilajit increases testosterone levels in men (Tapper et al., 2018). A clinical study
conducted by giving a certain number of men aged between 45 and 55 placebo and an equal
number of men given 250 mg of purified shilajit twice a day for 90 days showed that the men
receiving shilajit had a higher level of testosterone compared to their counterparts. Chronic
fatigue syndrome is a condition of extreme fatigue and tiredness and is caused by
mitochondrial dysfunction. Research has indicated that shilajit supplements could be used to
reduce the symptoms of this disorder. As discussed earlier, shilajit is used to slow aging.
Fulvic acid, being a strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, it prevents damage of cells and
free radicals.
Shilajit contains fulvic acid together with over 90 minerals which offers various
benefits to the body. Among these benefits is overcoming high attitude sicknesses which
include insomnia, body pain, lethargy, hypoxia, dementia and pulmonary edema. It improves
the body immunity, boosts body energy, can a diuretic and improves body memory thus it
helps counteract symptoms of attitude sicknesses. A research conducted on rats with heart
injury showed that shilajit could be used to improve heart health. Shilajit supplements

increases levels of iron in the body thus preventing iron deficiency anaemia. A study was
conducted on 90 infertile men who took shilajit twice a day for 3 months. The study showed
that 60 percent of the men indicated increased sperm count and a 12 percent of the men
showed increased sperm mobility. Shilajit could be used to cure infertility in men.
Risks of shilajit
Consuming unpurified shilajit has some risks on the human body. It increases risks of
intoxication by myocotixin, increased heavy metal ions in the body and free radicals. Some
research shows that some ayurvedic products in the market contain some levels of mercury,
lead and arsenic Kales and Saper, 2009). Clinical reports have reported cases of lead
poisoning in patients using shilajit products (Singh et al. 2009).

References
Bhattacharyya, S., Pal, D., Gupta, A.K., Ganguly, P., Majumder, U.K. and Ghosal, S., 2009.
Beneficial effect of processed shilajit on swimming exercise induced impaired energy status
of mice. Pharmacologyonline, 1, pp.817-25.
Cornejo, A., Jiménez, J.M., Caballero, L., Melo, F. and Maccioni, R.B., 2011. Fulvic acid
inhibits aggregation and promotes disassembly of tau fibrils associated with Alzheimer's
disease. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 27(1), pp.143-153.
Keller, J. L., Housh, T. J., Hill, E. C. Smith, C. M., Schmidt, R. J. and Johnson, G. 2019. The
effects of shilajit supplementation on fatigue-induced decreases in muscular strength and
serum hydroxyproline levels. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 16(3).
Doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-019-0270-2
Mittal, P., Kaushik, D., Gupta, V., Bansal, P. and Khokra, S., 2009. Therapeutic potentials of
“shilajit rasayana”-A review. Int J Pharm Clin Res, 1(2), pp.47-49.
Pandit, S., Biswas, S., Jana, U., De, R.K., Mukhopadhyay, S.C. and Biswas, T.K., 2016.
Clinical evaluation of purified Shilajit on testosterone levels in healthy volunteers.
Andrologia, 48(5), pp.570-575. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/and.12482
Saper, R.B., Phillips, R.S., Sehgal, A., Khouri, N., Davis, R.B., Paquin, J., Thuppil, V. and
Kales, S.N., 2008. Lead, mercury, and arsenic in US-and Indian-manufactured Ayurvedic
medicines sold via the Internet. Jama, 300(8), pp.915-923.
Singh, S., Mukherjee, K.K., Gill, K.D. and Flora, S.J.S., 2009. Lead-induced peripheral
neuropathy following Ayurvedic medication. Indian Journal of Medical Sciences, 63(9):408–
410.

Stohs, S. J. (2014). Safety and efficacy of Shilajit (Mummie, Moomiyo). Wiley Online
Library, Vol. 28, No. 4, pp. 475-479. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ptr.5018
Tapper, J., Arver, S., Pencina, K.M., Martling, A., Blomqvist, L., Buchli, C., Li, Z.,
Gagliano‐Jucá, T., Travison, T.G., Huang, G. and Storer, T.W., 2018. Muscles of the trunk
and pelvis are responsive to testosterone administration: data from testosterone dose–
response study in young healthy men. Andrology, 6(1), pp.64-73. Doi:
https://doi.org/10.1111/andr.12454
Wilson, D. B. 2017. Benefits of Shilajit. Retrieved from:
https://www.healthline.com/health/shilajit