Shilajit turns up in South African health shops, on marketplaces and all over social media, usually alongside claims that would embarrass a pharmacist. So here’s a plainer account: what the substance actually is, what a laboratory can measure in it, and what to look for on a label before you part with money.
Shilajit is a mineral-rich resin that seeps from rock seams at altitude over centuries, as plant matter compresses between the layers. It’s scraped from the rock, purified and filtered, then sold as a dark, sticky resin. Nothing is manufactured and nothing is added. You’ll also see it spelled silajeet, shilajeet or salajit, and occasionally mumijo. Same material.
It’s been used in Ayurvedic practice for centuries, where it’s described as a rasayana, a rejuvenating preparation. But that’s a statement about tradition, not about what it does in a modern clinical sense.
Shilajit comes out of rock, so the raw material carries whatever the rock carries. Heavy metals included. Purification is meant to take them out, and a laboratory test is the only way to know whether it did.
This isn’t theoretical. A 2025 study published in BMC Chemistry analysed six commercial shilajit products and found thallium in five of them. That’s the market this sits in, and it’s why the word “purified” printed on a jar means very little on its own.
A useful report covers four heavy metals, a fulvic acid figure and some physical characteristics. Here’s ours for batch 250915, analysed by Qarshi Research International, accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 and a member of ILAC, between 28 November and 8 December 2025.
| Parameter | Result | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Lead | Not detected | AOAC 999.10/11 |
| Arsenic | Not detected | AOAC 999.10/11 |
| Mercury | Not detected | AOAC 999.10/11 |
| Cadmium | Not detected | AOAC 999.10/11 |
| Fulvic acid | 35 g/100g | Titration |
| Moisture | 22.5 g/100g | AOAC 925.10 |
| Total ash | 2.9 g/100g | AOAC 923.03 |
| Solubility in water | 97.2 g/100g | Gravimetric |
The method matters as much as the number. A figure with no method beside it isn’t information, it’s decoration.
Jars claiming 60 or 80 per cent fulvic acid are common. Genuine raw resin typically measures somewhere between 15 and 35 per cent depending on the assay used, so figures far above that usually describe a standardised extract rather than raw resin, or come from a method the seller won’t name. The second one is the bigger problem. An extract is a real product sold under the wrong name, but an unnamed method is a number nobody can check. Ours reads 35 g/100g by titration, and we print the method next to it so you can judge for yourself.
A pea-sized amount, roughly 0.4 g, dissolved in warm water, tea or milk once a day. Not boiling water. Some people take it straight under the tongue. It tastes bitter and earthy, and if yours tastes sweet or mild, that’s a question rather than a selling point.
We’re not going to tell you what shilajit will do for you. The research that exists is early, the sample sizes are small, several trials used a standardised extract rather than raw resin, and some were funded by manufacturers. So anyone offering you certainty about outcomes is describing a different kind of product to the one we sell.
What we will tell you is what’s in the jar, measured by a laboratory that’s accountable for the measurement, with the paperwork published in full. Boring results included.
Pregnant or breastfeeding women, and anyone on chronic medication, should speak to a health professional first. This is a complementary product, not a medicine.
We publish the full laboratory report for the batch shipping now, with the method named beside every result. Read it in full.
See the certificate
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