Men synthesise more testosterone if they take 500 mg shilajit daily. Researchers at J.B. Roy State Ayurvedic Medical College and Hospital in India discovered this after doing experiments on men aged 45-55. Their study will be published soon in Andrologia.
Shilajit is a kind of clay, formed millions of years ago from the remains of invertebrate organisms. Ayurvedic healers use shilajit as a rejuvenating remedy – a rasayana. Extracts of shilajit are also found in some supplements intended to boost testosterone levels.
These supplements are effective, Indian researchers concluded in 2012 in a sponsored study. In patents the active substances in shilajit are listed as dibenzo-alphapryones [structural formula shown below]. [US patent 20050245434]
In the 2012 study the researchers used men aged between 30 and 45 as their subjects. In the soon-to-be-published study the researchers gave shilajit to slightly older men.
Study
The researchers did experiments with 75 men, aged between 45 and 55. The men were healthy but had symptoms associated with lower testosterone concentration. The researchers determined this by using the questionnaire below.
The researchers gave half of the men 2 capsules a day, each containing 250 mg shilajit extract. The other half got a placebo.
Results
In the three months that the experiment lasted, the concentration levels of testosterone, free testosterone and DHEA rose in the subjects who had been given shilajit. This didn’t happen in the men who had been given a placebo.
However, the increased synthesis of DHEA and testosterone had no effect on the production of the messenger hormones LH and FSH, as these did not decrease. How this was possible, the researchers don’t know.
Sponsor
The study was financed by Natreon. [natreoninc.com] Natreon is the manufacturer of PrimaVie, the patented shilajit extract that the researchers used.
Clinical evaluation of purified Shilajit on testosterone levels in healthy volunteers
Summary
Purified Shilajit, an Ayurvedic rasayana, was evaluated in healthy volunteers of age between 45 and 55 years for its effect on male androgenic hormone viz. testosterone in a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study at a dose of 250 mg twice a day. Treatment with Shilajit for consecutive 90 days revealed that it has significantly (P < 0.05) increased total testosterone, free testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEAS) compared with placebo. Gonadotropic hormones (LH and FSH) levels were well maintained. Source: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/and.12482/
