Does shilajit actually do anything?

Partially. One well-designed trial found a specific purified shilajit extract raised testosterone by a real, measurable amount over 90 days. That trial was funded by the company selling the extract, and most of shilajit's other claimed benefits, from energy to bone healing, rest on much smaller or lab-only evidence.

What shilajit actually is

Shilajit is a dark, sticky, mineral-dense substance that seeps out of rock in high mountain ranges, formed over centuries from slowly decomposing plant matter compressed under pressure. It has a long history in Ayurvedic medicine, where it was traditionally used as a general tonic for vitality and vigor. The modern pitch is more specific: wellness marketers now sell it as a natural testosterone booster, an energy fix and, increasingly, a longevity supplement, usually in resin or capsule form, the same marketing arc that carried lion's mane mushroom from niche Ayurvedic or traditional use into a mainstream supplement aisle.

The one trial doing most of the work

The strongest evidence behind shilajit's current popularity is a single 2016 study published in Andrologia. Researchers gave 75 healthy men aged 45 to 55 either 500 mg per day of a purified, standardized extract called PrimaVie or a placebo, for 90 days. At the end, the treatment group's total testosterone had risen about 20% and free testosterone about 19% compared with placebo. Aparna Kalidindi, a sales and marketing manager at Natreon, the company that makes PrimaVie and funded the study, called it significant partly because it tested healthy men rather than men with existing fertility problems, as an earlier company-backed study had done. That context matters for reading the result: it is a real, measured effect, in a specific population, using one standardized commercial extract, funded by the company that sells it. It is not evidence that any jar labeled "shilajit" on a supplement shelf will do the same thing.

What the rest of the evidence shows

Cleveland Clinic's Dr. Robert Saper, who chairs the clinic's Department of Wellness & Preventive Medicine, has reviewed the wider shilajit literature and lands on a measured verdict. Small studies suggest shilajit may reduce fatigue and support muscle recovery, and some lab research has found it may help bone healing or even slow the growth of certain cancer cells. But in each case, the caveats are doing real work. On the fatigue and muscle data, Cleveland Clinic's own summary states "much more research is needed to confirm these findings." On the cancer-cell research specifically, Saper is direct: "it's still way too early to say that shilajit has anti-cancer properties," even though he agrees the early lab studies "have been encouraging." Taken together, that is the profile of an ingredient with some genuinely interesting biology and almost no large, independent human trials to confirm what any of it means for an actual person taking it.

The risk the marketing skips

Here is where shilajit's pitch gets more complicated than most supplements. Because it forms naturally in mineral-rich rock, it is not just rich in beneficial minerals, it can also carry toxic ones. Saper puts it plainly: raw shilajit is "likely to have a number of impurities, such as heavy metals and microbial organisms." A 2024 review found raw shilajit often contains aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, mercury, thallium and lead. A separate 2025 study found some commercial shilajit supplements, the processed, purified products sold to consumers, had even higher thallium levels than raw shilajit itself, suggesting processing doesn't automatically solve the contamination problem. None of this means every product is dangerous. It means the usual "natural equals safe" assumption does not hold here, and the gap between a well-tested extract and an untested jar of resin is unusually wide.

Other things to weigh

Shilajit is also naturally rich in magnesium, which Cleveland Clinic notes can help some people but can "make you sick" in excess, especially from a supplement where the exact dose is unclear. Reported side effects include digestive upset, headaches, dizziness and allergic-type reactions, and a rare but serious complication called pseudohyperaldosteronism has shown up in at least one case report. Because the FDA does not review supplements for safety or potency before they reach shelves, none of this is independently verified before a product reaches a consumer, which is a theme running through longevity supplements generally, not just this one.

Our take

Shilajit is not a scam, but it is also not the settled "ancient secret" its marketing implies. The one solid trial behind the testosterone claim is real, industry-funded, and narrow: a specific purified extract, in middle-aged healthy men, over 90 days. Everything else, from energy to bone health to cognitive support, is preliminary at best. If you're drawn to try it, that argues for a tested, standardized extract with third-party heavy-metal testing, not raw resin bought on reputation alone, and for checking with a doctor first if low testosterone or persistent fatigue is the actual problem you're trying to solve, since both have far more common medical causes worth ruling out.

This is general information, not medical advice. Talk to a clinician before changing anything, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or managing a condition.