# Shilajit dosage: how much to take per day

Source: https://shilajit.uk/how-to-take-shilajit/dosage/
Author: Sam Rowan · Updated 2026-10-16

**Short answer:** Most human trials used 250 to 500 mg of purified shilajit a day, which is 0.25 to 0.5 g, usually split into two doses of 125 to 250 mg. 500 mg a day (250 mg twice a day) is the most studied dose. Trials went up to 1,000 mg a day, and no study shows that more than that adds any benefit.

There is no official recommended dose of shilajit in the UK. The best guide is what was given in human trials: between 200 mg and 1,000 mg a day of a purified extract, most often 500 mg split into two doses of 250 mg. These doses come from a handful of small studies, mostly of one or two branded extracts, so treat them as a starting point rather than a proven optimum.

## How much shilajit should I take per day?

Take 250 to 500 mg of purified shilajit a day. That is the range used in most human trials, and 500 mg a day is the single most studied dose.

| | Per dose | Per day | In grams per day |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Starting dose (first week) | 125 mg twice a day, or 250 mg once | 250 mg | 0.25 g |
| Most studied dose | 250 mg twice a day | 500 mg | 0.5 g |
| Highest dose in recent trials | 500 mg twice a day | 1,000 mg | 1 g |

"Per day" means the total over 24 hours. If a product says "500 mg per serving, take twice daily", that is 1,000 mg a day, the top of the trial range, not the middle of it.

## How much is that for resin, capsules and drops?

The daily target is the same whatever the form: 250 to 500 mg of shilajit. How you get there differs.

| Form | How to get 500 mg a day | What to check |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Resin** | Weigh 250 mg (0.25 g) twice a day and dissolve each in warm water | Scales that read to 0.01 g |
| **Capsules or tablets** | One 250 mg capsule twice a day, or one 500 mg capsule once a day | Milligrams of shilajit per capsule, not of the whole capsule |
| **Powder** | 0.25 g twice a day | Use scales; scoops vary a lot |
| **Drops** | Depends entirely on strength | Milligrams of shilajit per ml or per drop; if the label doesn't say, you can't work out the dose |
| **Gummies** | Often impossible at a sensible number of gummies | Milligrams of shilajit per gummy |

Capsules make it easiest to match the trial doses, because most trials used capsules of a known strength. The one trial of resin gave 250 mg twice a day, dissolved in about 200 ml of warm water with meals (Yadav et al., 2026). See [resin vs capsules](/how-to-take-shilajit/resin-vs-capsules/) for the trade-offs.

## How much is a pea-sized or rice-grain piece of resin in mg?

Nobody has published what a "pea-sized" or "rice-grain" piece of shilajit weighs, so any figure is an estimate. As a rough guide, if resin weighed about the same as water:

- a **rice-grain** piece (roughly 3 by 6 mm) would weigh about 30 to 50 mg
- a **small pea** (about 5 mm across) would weigh about 65 mg
- a **large pea** (about 8 mm across) would weigh about 270 mg

These are our calculations from the volume of each shape, not measurements, and real resin varies in density and moisture. The point is that "pea-sized" can mean anything from well under 100 mg to the top of the trial range, so weigh your piece on 0.01 g scales a few times until you can judge it by eye.

## Is the dose different for men and women?

No trial has compared doses between men and women, and the doses used were similar. Men took 200 to 1,000 mg a day, including 500 mg a day (250 mg twice a day) in the testosterone trial (Pandit et al., 2016). Women took 250 or 500 mg a day in a 48-week bone density trial (Pingali and Nutalapati, 2022) and a 14-week skin study (Das et al., 2019). In both of those, 500 mg did more than 250 mg. For what each dose was found to do, see [shilajit and testosterone](/benefits/testosterone/) and [shilajit benefits](/benefits/).

## When should I take shilajit, and how long for?

Trials usually gave the daily amount in two doses, and one gave it after meals. No study has compared times of day, so pick a routine you'll keep, and take it with food if it upsets your stomach. Most trials ran 8 to 12 weeks before measuring results. See [best time to take shilajit](/how-to-take-shilajit/best-time-to-take/) and [how long to take it](/how-to-take-shilajit/how-long-to-take/).

The rest of this page sets out the evidence behind these numbers, how to read a label, and who should take less or none.

## What daily dose did the human studies use?

Most trials used 250 to 500 mg a day. The full range runs from 200 mg to 2,000 mg.

| Study | Who took part | Daily dose | How it was split | Length |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Biswas et al., 2010 | 35 men with low sperm counts (28 finished) | 200 mg | 100 mg twice a day after main meals | 90 days |
| Keller et al., 2019 | 63 active young men | 250 or 500 mg | One capsule a day | 8 weeks |
| Das et al., 2019 | Healthy women | 250 or 500 mg | 125 or 250 mg twice a day | 14 weeks |
| Pingali and Nutalapati, 2022 | 60 postmenopausal women with osteopenia | 250 or 500 mg | Once a day | 48 weeks |
| Pandit et al., 2016 | Healthy men aged 45 to 55 | 500 mg | 250 mg twice a day | 90 days |
| Yadav et al., 2026 | 25 healthy men | 500 mg (resin) | 250 mg twice a day in warm water with meals | 28 days |
| Neltner et al., 2024 | 35 trained young men | 500 or 1,000 mg | Daily | 8 weeks |
| Sadeghi et al., 2020 | 160 adults after tibia fracture surgery | 1,000 mg | Two 500 mg capsules | 28 days |
| Sharma et al., 2003 | 30 medical students (20 took shilajit) | 2,000 mg | Four 500 mg capsules | 45 days |

## Does a higher dose of shilajit work better?

In the trials that tested two doses, the higher dose usually did better, but not always by a clear margin.

- **Strength (Keller et al., 2019).** Men took 250 mg, 500 mg or placebo for 8 weeks. Among the stronger half of the group, those on 500 mg lost less strength during a fatiguing exercise test (8.9% decline) than those on 250 mg (17.0%) or placebo (16.0%). The 250 mg group was no different from placebo. The study was funded by the extract's manufacturer.
- **Bone density (Pingali and Nutalapati, 2022).** Bone density fell in women on placebo over 48 weeks, and the loss was reduced in a dose-dependent way, so 500 mg did more than 250 mg.
- **Collagen marker (Neltner et al., 2024).** Both 500 mg and 1,000 mg raised a blood marker of collagen production over 8 weeks. 75% of the 1,000 mg group passed the threshold for a meaningful rise, against 30% on placebo; the 500 mg group (69%) was not statistically different from placebo.

So 500 mg looks like a reasonable target. 1,000 mg a day has been used in two trials; in the larger one, 160 fracture patients over 28 days, side effects were no more common than on placebo (Sadeghi et al., 2020). None of these trials ran long enough or large enough to say what the best dose is, and the results apply to the specific extracts tested, not to every product.

## Is it worth taking more than 1,000 mg a day?

There's no evidence that it is. The only study above 1,000 mg (Sharma et al., 2003) gave 20 medical students 2,000 mg of traditionally purified shilajit a day for 45 days, with 10 on placebo. Blood pressure, pulse, weight and blood counts didn't change, and cholesterol and triglycerides fell. It was small and short and hasn't been repeated, so it tells us little about the safety of high doses.

There's also a practical reason to stay at the lower end. Any heavy metals in a product scale with the dose. A supplement right at the GB legal maximum for lead, 3.0 mg/kg, would give you 1.5 micrograms of lead at 500 mg a day and 6 micrograms at 2,000 mg a day. A low-metal product and a modest dose keep that number small. See [shilajit and heavy metals](/safety/heavy-metals/).

## How do I measure a dose of shilajit resin?

Weigh it. 250 mg is 0.25 g and 500 mg is 0.5 g, so you need scales that read to 0.01 g; kitchen scales that read in whole grams can't do it. Weigh your usual piece a few times until you can judge it, then check again whenever you open a new jar, since resin varies from batch to batch.

## How do I read the dose on a shilajit label?

Look for the amount of shilajit per daily portion, in milligrams. In England, a food supplement label must state the portion recommended for daily use and the amount of each substance with a nutritional or physiological effect, as a number, per daily portion (Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003). Compare that figure with the trial doses above.

Watch out for:

- **Blends with a token amount.** One 12-week trial of a chromium blend contained just 6 or 12 mg of shilajit a day (Martinez et al., 2025), a small fraction of the 200 to 1,000 mg used in shilajit trials. A product that lists shilajit among many ingredients may contain very little.
- **"Equivalent to" figures.** Some labels give a large "equivalent" weight for a concentrated extract. The weight of shilajit actually in the serving is the figure to compare with trials. This is our advice, not something any study has tested.
- **No figure at all.** If the label doesn't say how many milligrams you get, you can't match any research dose.

## Who should take a lower dose, or none?

All the trials above were in adults, mostly healthy, and most lasted three months or less. There's no data for children, pregnancy or breastfeeding, so avoiding shilajit then is a precaution rather than a response to a known harm. If you take prescription medicines or have a long-term condition, speak to a pharmacist or GP first and read the [safety guide](/safety/). How long to keep going is covered in [how long to take shilajit](/how-to-take-shilajit/how-long-to-take/).

## Frequently asked questions

### How much shilajit should I take per day?

Most trials used 250 to 500 mg a day of purified shilajit, and 500 mg a day (250 mg twice a day) is the dose with the most research behind it. Start at 250 mg a day for a week, then increase if you want to.

### How much shilajit is that in grams?

250 mg is 0.25 g, 500 mg is 0.5 g and 1,000 mg is 1 g. So a typical daily dose is a quarter to half a gram, which is why you need scales that read to 0.01 g to weigh resin.

### How many times a day should I take shilajit?

Most trials split the daily amount into two doses, for example 250 mg in the morning and 250 mg in the evening. Some gave one dose a day. No study has compared once with twice a day.

### What is the maximum dose of shilajit?

There is no official maximum. Trials used up to 1,000 mg a day, and one small 45-day study used 2,000 mg a day without problems, but that is too little data to call high doses safe. Every extra gram also adds to your intake of any heavy metals in the product.

### What dose of shilajit was used for testosterone?

The one placebo-controlled testosterone trial used 250 mg of purified shilajit twice a day (500 mg a day) for 90 days, in men aged 45 to 55 (Pandit et al., 2016).

### How do I measure 250 mg of shilajit resin?

250 mg is 0.25 g. Jewellery scales that read to 0.01 g can measure it; guessing by size can't, because resin varies in density and moisture.

## References

1. [Biswas TK et al. Clinical evaluation of spermatogenic activity of processed Shilajit in oligospermia. Andrologia. 2010;42(1):48-56.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20078516/)
2. [Pandit S et al. Clinical evaluation of purified Shilajit on testosterone levels in healthy volunteers. Andrologia. 2016;48(5):570-5.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26395129/)
3. [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;16(1):3.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30728074/) Funded by the manufacturer of the extract tested.
4. [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;21(1):1-12.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36546868/)
5. [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. Phytomedicine. 2022;105:154334.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35933897/)
6. [Sadeghi SMH et al. Efficacy of Momiai in Tibia Fracture Repair: A Randomized Double-Blinded Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial. J Altern Complement Med. 2020;26(6):521-528.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32310691/)
7. [Das A et al. Skin Transcriptome of Middle-Aged Women Supplemented With Natural Herbo-mineral Shilajit Shows Induction of Microvascular and Extracellular Matrix Mechanisms. J Am Coll Nutr. 2019;38(6):526-536.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31161927/)
8. [Sharma P et al. Shilajit: evalution of its effects on blood chemistry of normal human subjects. Anc Sci Life. 2003;23(2):114-9.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22557121/)
9. [Yadav D et al. Safety and Efficacy of TruBlk Shilajit Resin Supplementation on Physical Performance and Blood Biomarkers in Healthy Adults: A 28-Day Open-Label Pilot Study. Cureus. 2026;18(1):e102372.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41613504/) Open label, no placebo. Most authors work for the company that makes the resin tested.
10. [Martinez V et al. Effects of 12 Weeks of Chromium, Phyllanthus emblica Fruit Extract, and Shilajit Supplementation on Markers of Cardiometabolic Health, Fitness, and Weight Loss. Nutrients. 2025;17(12):2042.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40573153/) Funded by an ingredient company.
11. [The Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/1387). legislation.gov.uk.](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/1387/contents)
12. [Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006 setting maximum levels for certain contaminants in foodstuffs, Annex (as retained in Great Britain). legislation.gov.uk.](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2006/1881/annex)