Shilajit Side Effects: What's Documented and What Isn't
Last reviewed September 2026 · 10 min read
The short answer
Purified shilajit has been well tolerated in every human trial that has measured it. Across roughly ten studies — including one in 160 patients and several that ran liver and kidney panels — no serious adverse events have been attributed to it. The documented complaints are mild and mostly digestive. There is one published case of a genuine adverse reaction, and it happened in pregnancy. The much larger risks are not side effects of shilajit at all: they are heavy metal contamination in unpurified product, and the other ingredients in multi-ingredient gummies and blends. Anyone telling you shilajit has no side effects is describing a small, short evidence base as though it were a clean bill of health.
What the trials actually reported
Side effect data is only as good as the study that collected it, so it is worth being specific about what was measured rather than repeating "well tolerated".
- Liver and kidney function: the oligospermia study (100 mg twice daily, 90 days) ran hepatic and renal panels before and after and found them unaltered. The 2026 resin pilot ran liver, kidney and haematology panels over 28 days and reported all values within normal limits.
- Metabolic and muscle markers: the muscle biopsy study found no change in blood glucose, lipid profile, creatine kinase or serum myoglobin after 8 weeks, and none after a further 4 weeks combined with exercise.
- Against a placebo: the largest trial — 160 patients recovering from tibia fractures, 1000 mg/day for 28 days — found no significant difference in reported adverse effects between the shilajit and placebo groups.
- Over 14 weeks: the skin study, the longest published, reported no adverse effects across that period at up to 250 mg twice daily.
A 2014 safety review in Phytotherapy Research concluded that the safety of purified shilajit is well documented in both animal and human studies. That is a fair reading — and it comes with the same caveat as everything else in this literature: the trials are small, the longest ran 14 weeks, and most tested a single standardised extract. Rare effects and long-term effects would not show up in studies this size. The full picture on how thin the evidence base is sits in the clinical trials, explained.
The one documented adverse case
In 2018, clinicians in Greece reported a 37-year-old pregnant woman referred for persistent high blood pressure and low potassium. She had been taking mumijo — a regional name for shilajit — for the previous six months. After a full diagnostic workup, the cause was identified as a licorice-like syndrome: an apparent mineralocorticoid excess, in which cortisol is not properly inactivated and behaves like a salt-retaining hormone. She was given potassium and told to stop the supplement, and the picture resolved.
One case report is not a rate. It does not tell you how often this happens, or whether pregnancy, the dose, or that particular material was the deciding factor. What it does establish is that the effect is possible, and that the two things to watch are blood pressure and potassium.
Shilajit and blood pressure, in both directions
This is the most confused question in the category, because the marketing and the case literature point opposite ways.
On the claimed benefit: one randomised study gave 500 mg twice daily to 60 elderly hypertensive patients for 30 days, on top of their blood pressure medication, against controls taking the medication alone. Oxidative stress markers improved. Arterial stiffness and endothelial function — the measures that would plausibly translate into lower blood pressure — did not change. It was open-label, with no placebo. Anyone citing that study as evidence that shilajit lowers blood pressure is citing a result it did not report.
On the risk: the case above is a documented instance of shilajit consumption raising blood pressure and dropping potassium. So the honest position is that there is no good evidence shilajit lowers blood pressure, and one published case of it doing the opposite. If you take antihypertensives, this is a conversation to have with the doctor who prescribes them, not a supplement to add quietly.
Gummy and honey stick side effects are usually not the shilajit
"Shilajit gummies side effects" is one of the most searched questions in this category, and the answer is mostly about everything except the shilajit.
A gummy typically contains 50–200 mg of shilajit extract, well under the 250–500 mg/day used in research. What it also contains is a sugar or sugar-alcohol base, gelatin or pectin, colourings and flavourings — and, in the multi-ingredient products that dominate this format, anything from ashwagandha and tongkat ali to caffeine, black seed oil and a dozen other actives. If a "11-in-1" gummy gives you an upset stomach or a headache, the ingredient at a sub-clinical dose is the least likely culprit. Sugar alcohols in particular are a well-known cause of bloating and loose stools.
The same logic applies to honey sticks, which dilute a small amount of extract into a sugar base. The practical advice is the same for both: read the full ingredient panel rather than the front of the box, and check whether the product's COA covers the finished gummy or only the incoming extract — a distinction we explain in the gummies guide.
The risk that isn't a side effect
The most serious documented harm associated with shilajit is not a pharmacological effect of the substance. It is contamination. Shilajit forms in direct contact with rock and takes on that rock's mineral profile, which can include lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium. Purification is meant to remove them; whether it did is only knowable from a laboratory test.
This risk behaves differently from a side effect. It does not announce itself — there is no nausea or headache to warn you — and it accumulates with daily use over months. Someone taking a contaminated product every day for a year is in a different situation from someone who tried it twice, and neither would feel anything at the time. That is the whole reason this database grades lab evidence rather than reviews. Our safety guide covers how to convert a COA's ppm figures into your own daily exposure.
Who should avoid shilajit
Avoid
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding — the one documented adverse case occurred in pregnancy, and there is no safe level of lead exposure for a developing child
- Children — untested, and the contamination argument is strongest here
- Iron overload conditions — shilajit contains iron and has been studied for improving iron status; haemochromatosis is a reason not to
Ask a clinician first
- Kidney disease — impaired clearance changes the calculation on any accumulating metal; see our kidney guide
- Treated hypertension — because of the mineralocorticoid case above
- Gout or high uric acid — traditionally flagged; the evidence is weak in both directions
- Any prescription medication — there is essentially no interaction research to consult, which is a reason for caution rather than reassurance
What nobody can tell you
Three honest gaps, because the absence of reported effects is not the same as evidence of safety:
- Long-term use. The longest trial ran 14 weeks. Shilajit is sold for daily, indefinite use. Nobody has studied a year of it.
- Drug interactions. No systematic interaction studies exist. "No known interactions" in supplement marketing usually means nobody looked.
- Rare events. A trial of 25 or 60 people cannot detect an effect that happens to one person in a thousand. Most of these trials are that size.
If you experience something unexpected on a supplement, you can report it to the FDA through MedWatch. Serious adverse events are the one part of supplement safety the FDA requires manufacturers to report — a post-market system, which is how this category is regulated generally.
This is general information, not medical advice. If you have a medical condition or take prescription medication, ask a doctor or pharmacist before adding shilajit.
The risk you can actually check
Contamination is the documented harm, and it is the one thing a lab report settles. These products publish one from a named independent laboratory with numeric results.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the side effects of shilajit?
In human trials, reported effects were mild and mostly digestive, and liver, kidney, glucose and lipid panels were unchanged where they were measured. The largest trial found no difference in adverse effects against placebo. One published case describes high blood pressure and low potassium in a pregnant woman taking mumijo for six months. The serious documented harms in this category come from heavy metal contamination in unpurified product rather than from shilajit itself.
What are the side effects of shilajit for females?
No trial has reported side effects specific to women. The 14-week skin study in healthy adult women — the longest published shilajit trial — reported no adverse effects at up to 250 mg twice daily. Two cautions do apply disproportionately: pregnancy and breastfeeding, where the one documented adverse case occurred, and iron status, since shilajit contains iron and has been studied for improving it, which matters if you have haemochromatosis or high ferritin.
Do shilajit gummies have side effects?
Usually from something other than the shilajit. A gummy holds 50–200 mg of extract, below the dose used in research, alongside a sugar or sugar-alcohol base, gelatin or pectin, flavourings, and — in most products on the market — several other active ingredients. Sugar alcohols are a common cause of bloating and loose stools, and multi-ingredient blends stack actives nobody has tested together. Read the full ingredient panel rather than the front of the box.
Can you take too much shilajit?
There is no established upper limit, because no study has set out to find one. Human trials have used 250 to 1000 mg per day; 1000 mg/day was well tolerated over 28 days in the fracture trial and 8 weeks in the collagen trial. Taking more than the studied range means leaving the evidence behind, and it scales your exposure to whatever contaminants the product contains — a 2 g daily dose delivers four times the lead of a 0.5 g dose of the same material.
Can shilajit raise blood pressure?
There is one published case where it appears to have done so: a pregnant woman developed persistent hypertension and low potassium after six months of mumijo, diagnosed as a licorice-like mineralocorticoid excess syndrome, which resolved on stopping. In the other direction, the one randomised study in hypertensive patients found improved oxidative stress markers but no change in arterial stiffness or endothelial function. If you are treated for high blood pressure, raise it with your doctor.
Is shilajit bad for your liver?
No trial has found evidence that it is. The studies that ran liver panels — including a 90-day study and a 28-day study — reported unchanged hepatic function. The caution worth keeping is that multi-ingredient supplements are a recognised cause of liver injury generally, and most shilajit gummies and blends contain several other actives. A single-ingredient product with a clean COA carries less of this uncertainty than an "11-in-1" formula.