Shilajit: What the Evidence Shows and What to Check Before Buying (2026)

Brand prices, checked October 18, 2026.

What to buy

Nootropics Depot PrimaVie is our pick. It is purified PrimaVie with no other herbs, the material used in the exercise trial, and the brand posts batch lab reports. Two capsules give 500 mg.

Nootropics Depot PrimaVie
$0.67 a day for 500 mg

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Want 500 mg in one capsule? Peak Performance uses the same PrimaVie, 500 mg a capsule. Its brand does not post a lab report.

Peak Performance PrimaVie
$0.73 a day for 500 mg

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Every product we scored, and how to read a lab report: best shilajit. Which shilajit post lab reports: third-party tested shilajit.

What shilajit does

Shilajit is used in Ayurvedic medicine and is rich in fulvic acid and minerals. A review called the case for most of its uses weak (Wilson 2011).

What human studies found for each goal.

Goal	Evidence	What studies found
Testosterone in older men	One small trial	Men aged 45 to 55 on 250 mg twice a day for 90 days had higher testosterone in their blood than men on a placebo (Pandit 2016). One trial, in healthy men, not repeated.
Strength after a hard workout	One small trial, in the stronger half	In 63 active men over 8 weeks, 500 mg a day helped the half who started strongest keep more strength after a tiring workout; 250 mg did no better than a placebo (Keller 2019).
Bone in women after menopause	One trial	In 60 women aged 45 to 65 with thinning bones, 250 or 500 mg a day for 48 weeks slowed bone loss in the lower back and hip compared with a placebo (Pingali 2022).
Sperm count in men with low counts	One small study, no placebo	28 men took 100 mg twice a day for 90 days; sperm counts rose about 61% from their start, with no placebo group (Biswas 2010).
Collagen marker	A blood marker	In 35 trained men taking 500 or 1,000 mg a day for 8 weeks, a blood marker of collagen making rose (Neltner 2024). A marker, not a skin or joint result.
Energy	Rats only	We found no human trial. The energy claim comes from a study in rats (Surapaneni 2012).
Brain, altitude, aging	No human trials found	We found only reviews of lab studies and traditional use (Carrasco-Gallardo 2012; Meena 2010).

The metals question

Shilajit comes out of rock, so it can carry metals. A 2024 review counted about 65 metals reported in it, including lead and arsenic; most studies found them under WHO and FDA limits, but a few did not (Hussain 2024). A 2025 study found thallium, a toxic metal, in supplements, more in some than in raw resin (Kamgar 2025). Skip a shilajit if:

• The brand posts no lab report for the batch, or only says “lab tested.”
• The report you can find does not match the lot number on your jar.
• It sells on a giant fulvic acid number or “100% pure” with no test method.

How to read a shilajit lab report.

How much to take

The testosterone and strength results came at 500 mg a day. The trials ran 8 weeks to 48 weeks, so do not expect a quick change. Resin is scooped by eye, so a capsule is the easier way to get a set amount.

Is shilajit safe?

Small trials found it well tolerated (Stohs 2014), but none ran longer than about a year. Reported side effects include headache, dizziness, nausea and diarrhea (Cleveland Clinic). A few things to check:

• Too much iron in your blood (hemochromatosis): skip it.
• Pregnant or breastfeeding: skip it. It has not been studied.
• Diabetes medicine: ask your doctor first, since shilajit may lower blood sugar (ConsumerLab 2024).
• Heart disease, blood pressure problems, a blood thinner, or an immune condition such as lupus or RA: ask your doctor first (Cleveland Clinic).
• Children: do not give it. Any regular medicine: ask your doctor; there are no drug-interaction studies.

Questions people ask

How much shilajit did the trials use?

Trials used 200 to 1,000 mg a day, most often 250 to 500 mg. The testosterone and strength results came at 500 mg a day; in the exercise trial, 250 mg did no better than a placebo.

What should I look for when buying shilajit?

A batch lab report you can match to your jar, with lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury results, and ideally thallium; the amount in mg; and a named purified material such as PrimaVie. The full checklist.

Sources

1. Pandit S, et al. “Clinical evaluation of purified Shilajit on testosterone levels in healthy volunteers.” Andrologia. 2016. PubMed 26395129
2. Keller JL, et al. “The effects of Shilajit supplementation on fatigue-induced decreases in muscular strength and serum hydroxyproline levels.” J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2019. PubMed 30728074
3. Neltner TJ, et al. “Effects of 8 Weeks of Shilajit Supplementation on Serum Pro-c1α1, a Biomarker of Type 1 Collagen Synthesis: A Randomized Control Trial.” J Diet Suppl. 2024. PubMed 36546868
4. Surapaneni DK, et al. “Shilajit attenuates behavioral symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome by modulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and mitochondrial bioenergetics in rats.” J Ethnopharmacol. 2012. PubMed 22771318
5. Carrasco-Gallardo C, et al. “Shilajit: a natural phytocomplex with potential procognitive activity.” Int J Alzheimers Dis. 2012. PubMed 22482077
6. Meena H, et al. “Shilajit: A panacea for high-altitude problems.” Int J Ayurveda Res. 2010. PubMed 20532096
7. Wilson E, et al. “Review on shilajit used in traditional Indian medicine.” J Ethnopharmacol. 2011. PubMed 21530631
8. Hussain A, Saeed A. “Hazardous or Advantageous: Uncovering the Roles of Heavy Metals and Humic Substances in Shilajit (Phyto-mineral) with Emphasis on Heavy Metals Toxicity and Their Detoxification Mechanisms.” Biol Trace Elem Res. 2024. PubMed 38393486
9. Pingali U, Nutalapati C. “Shilajit extract reduces oxidative stress, inflammation, and bone loss to dose-dependently preserve bone mineral density in postmenopausal women with osteopenia: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.” Phytomedicine. 2022. PubMed 35933897
10. Biswas TK, et al. “Clinical evaluation of spermatogenic activity of processed Shilajit in oligospermia.” Andrologia. 2010. PubMed 20078516
11. Kamgar E, et al. “Quantifying of thallium in Shilajit and its supplements to unveil the potential risk of consumption of this popular traditional medicine.” BMC Chem. 2025. PubMed 39827344
12. Stohs SJ. “Safety and efficacy of shilajit (mumie, moomiyo).” Phytother Res. 2014. PubMed 23733436
13. Cleveland Clinic. “Shilajit: benefits, side effects and uses” (read October 18, 2026). health.clevelandclinic.org
14. ConsumerLab. “Shilajit Supplements Review” (public summary, read October 18, 2026). consumerlab.com