Tongkat Ali and Shilajit powder

We can tell you what shilajit is, what the research has and hasn't found, and where it sits under Australian law. We can't tell you it does anything for you, and here's why that's not us being coy.

A good fit if

• You want the evidence and the regulatory position laid out before you spend
• You already buy shilajit and want to know whether the format you've got is the one studied
• You'd rather be told about a testing gap than have it left out

Check with us first if

• You're pregnant, breastfeeding or buying for a child. No data exists in any of those groups.
• You take any prescription medicine, because no interaction data for shilajit was located at all.
• You're under care for a hormonal or bone condition, which is where most of the research sits and where it belongs with your doctor.
• You're buying raw resin, so we can talk through what testing to ask the seller for.

• Raw resin. Best known for: The traditional format, and most of the online market. Absorption: Minimally processed. Typical use: One open-label uncontrolled study. Its own authors note clinical evidence on the resin form is limited. Not a permitted ingredient.
• Purified shilajit. Best known for: Processed to remove insoluble matter. Absorption: Not characterised in the abstracts. Typical use: 500 mg a day over 90 days in one randomised trial that reported no sample size and no effect sizes. Not a permitted ingredient.
• Standardised aqueous extract. Best known for: Consistent batch to batch. Absorption: Characterised. Typical use: The form used in the 48-week trial, the most rigorous study in this family. Not a permitted ingredient.
• Named proprietary extracts. Best known for: The ones singled out in independent reviews. Absorption: Proprietary characterisation. Typical use: Where a systematic review credited any effect, it credited a specific branded extract rather than shilajit generally. Not a permitted ingredient.
• Powder and capsules. Best known for: Convenience. Absorption: Several trials used oral doses without stating the physical form. Typical use: Not a permitted ingredient.
• Combination products. Best known for: Usually with chromium and Phyllanthus emblica. Absorption: Not applicable. Typical use: The one combination trial used 6 to 12 mg a day of shilajit, roughly a fortieth of the dose used elsewhere. Chromium and amla are permitted ingredients; shilajit isn't, so the combination isn't either.
• Fulvic acid on its own. Best known for: The signature constituent, sold separately. Absorption: No human trial on fulvic acid alone was located. Typical use: Fulvic acid is also absent from Schedule 1.

Reference values. There's no Nutrient Reference Value for shilajit, and no Australian dosing framework at all, because it isn't a permitted ingredient.

Typical supplemental range. Across the trials: 500 mg a day of purified shilajit for 90 days; 250 mg or 500 mg a day of standardised extract for 48 weeks; 500 mg or 1,000 mg a day for 8 weeks; 1,000 mg a day for 28 days.

Upper level. There's no Australian cap, because there's no Schedule 1 item to carry one. That's the absence of a rule rather than permission. Nothing has assessed an upper limit for this ingredient here.

Worth knowing. One combination trial used 6 to 12 mg a day, which is so far below the rest that it tells you almost nothing about shilajit. If you're comparing products, compare the dose against the standardised-extract trials rather than against the label's confidence. Your needs depend on your age, diet and health circumstances. Talk to one of our naturopaths in store.

Food first, where the diet allows it.

• None: shilajit isn't a food. It's collected from rock faces at altitude

This list is the part of the page we will not shorten. If any of it applies to you, talk to one of our naturopaths or your doctor before starting.

• Everyone, on one regulatory point: shilajit isn't a permitted listed-medicine ingredient in Australia, so a product containing it hasn't had its identity, purity and contaminant limits assessed under that framework. That's the single most important safety fact about this ingredient, and it's a regulatory one.
• Heavy metals and trace elements. Shilajit is a rock exudate described as rich in minerals and trace elements. One analytical study quantified 14 elements by ICP-MS and presented its methods as a foundation for safety assessment. The identities and concentrations aren't in the published abstract, and no source we hold states measured values or limits. We're naming the concern rather than pretending to quantify it.
• Raw versus purified. Every positive trial used purified or standardised material. No source we hold addresses the safety of unpurified raw resin, which is what much of the market sells.
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding. No data located, and no Schedule 1 entry to carry a warning either way.
• Children. No paediatric data located. The trials enrolled from age 18.
• Medicine interactions. Not captured anywhere in our sources. Absence of data isn't absence of risk.
• Men under care for a diagnosed hormonal condition. That's the one group a systematic review discussed, and it's a conversation for their doctor.
• Purity and testing claims. Shilajit is a rock exudate, and the analytical methods for routine quality control were only published recently. A claim of purity should come with testing data behind it.