Is Shilajit Good for Kidneys? What the Evidence Shows

People ask “is shilajit good for kidneys?” for two opposite reasons. Some have read that it’s a traditional kidney tonic. Others have kidney disease and want to know whether a concentrated mineral resin is safe to take at all. The research answers neither question well, but it does show where the real risks are, and they depend heavily on whether your kidneys already work normally.

Key Takeaways

• No human study we found was designed to test whether shilajit improves kidney function. Kidney markers show up only as safety checks in trials on other topics.
• In those safety checks, kidney markers stayed stable. Men in a 2010 fertility study had “unaltered renal profiles” after 90 days, according to the abstract (values weren’t published), and in a 28-day 2026 pilot in healthy men, creatinine went from 1.00 to 0.97 mg/dL.
• The “kidney-protective” findings come from rats given a toxic drug or cancer model. They don’t show a benefit in people.
• People with chronic kidney disease (CKD) were excluded from the trials we checked. For them, the unanswered questions are potassium, phosphorus, and metals the kidneys normally clear.
• We found no published data on shilajit’s oxalate content and no human trial reporting uric acid, so claims either way about kidney stones or gout aren’t backed by evidence.
• If you have CKD, are on dialysis, or have had a transplant, talk to your nephrologist before taking shilajit.

Why Kidneys Come Up So Often

Shilajit is a resin that seeps from mountain rock. According to a 2025 review of its chemistry in Critical Reviews in Analytical Chemistry (Kamgar et al.), more than 80% of its weight is humic substances like fulvic acid (estimates range from about 60–80% to over 80%, depending on the analysis), and almost 20% is calcium, potassium, and magnesium. The same review notes that no complete chemical analysis has ever been done. That matters because the kidneys filter minerals and metals out of the blood. Healthy kidneys handle a small extra load; impaired ones can let it build up.

The kidney reputation also has a traditional side. A 2020 paper in Chinese Medicine (Ding et al.) describes shilajit’s water extract as used in Tibetan medicine for “heat-related” syndromes, “especially that of stomach, liver and kidney.” That describes use, not proof.

Which Kidney Markers Human Studies Measured

Here’s every human study we could verify that reported kidney markers.

Men with low sperm counts, 90 days (2010). In a study published in Andrologia (Biswas et al., 2010), men with oligospermia took 100 mg of processed shilajit twice daily after meals. Of 35 enrolled, 28 completed the study. Alongside sperm and hormone outcomes, the authors reported “unaltered hepatic and renal profiles.” We couldn’t access the full text to see which renal tests were run or their values, and there was no placebo group.

Older adults with hypertension, 30 days (2023). In the open-label randomized trial by Patil et al. in the Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology (full text), 28 people added 500 mg of purified shilajit twice daily to their usual blood pressure drugs, and 32 served as controls. The methods say urea and creatinine were measured. The published tables, though, give only baseline values (creatinine about 1.03 mg/dL and urea about 27.4 in the shilajit group), with no follow-up numbers. This trial excluded people with chronic kidney disease. The trial’s blood pressure findings are covered in our post on shilajit and blood pressure.

Healthy men, 28 days (2026). This single-arm pilot in Cureus (Yadav et al., 2026) gave 25 healthy men 500 mg of shilajit resin daily. It excluded anyone with renal disorders. Its safety table is the most detailed we found: mean serum creatinine went from 1.00 to 0.97 mg/dL and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) from 13.85 to 11.78 mg/dL, both described as stable. Limitations: no control group, only 25 men, and most authors work for the product’s manufacturer.

Three gaps stand out:

1. No eGFR, cystatin C, or urine albumin. None of the studies we could read reported estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), cystatin C, or a urine albumin test. These are the measures a nephrologist uses to stage kidney disease. Creatinine and urea alone are rougher signals.
2. No one with reduced kidney function. The two studies that listed their exclusions both screened out kidney disease. The results describe people whose kidneys already work well.
3. Short durations. The longest was 90 days. A 48-week trial in postmenopausal women exists (Pingali & Nutalapati, 2022), but its published abstract doesn’t report kidney markers, and we couldn’t access the full text.

Fair reading: short-term use in healthy adults hasn’t produced a kidney signal in the few studies that looked. That’s weak evidence, and it says nothing about anyone with CKD.

The Animal Nephroprotection Studies

Most “shilajit protects your kidneys” content leans on rat studies. Look at what they actually tested.

• Antibiotic-induced kidney damage. A 2026 study in the Iranian Journal of Kidney Diseases (Durgun & Yildizhan) gave 28 rats amoxicillin/clavulanate, a mumijo (shilajit) extract at 100 mg/kg a day, both, or neither, for 21 days. The antibiotic raised urea, creatinine, and oxidative-stress markers. Adding the extract reduced the oxidative damage and tissue injury, and the extract “alone demonstrated no adverse effects on renal parameters.”
• Chemotherapy-induced kidney damage. A 2025 study in the Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences (Ezer et al.) used 20 rats given the cancer drug 5-fluorouracil. Oral shilajit at 200 mg/kg reduced oxidative stress and kidney tissue damage compared with the drug alone.
• Cancer model plus chemotherapy. A 2022 study in the Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences (Jambi & Alshubaily) used rats with osteosarcoma. Creatinine, urea, and uric acid moved closer to normal when shilajit was added to a chemotherapy cocktail.

All three share one design: rats get a kidney-damaging drug or disease, and the shilajit group ends up with less damage, most likely through antioxidant activity. None tests a healthy human kidney or human chronic kidney disease, which is a different process from acute drug injury, and per-kilogram rat doses don’t translate to a capsule. Read “nephroprotective” as “worth studying in people,” not as a reason to take it.

Shilajit and Kidney Disease: Where the Real Concerns Are

With CKD, the question is whether damaged kidneys can clear what’s in shilajit. The National Kidney Foundation’s page on herbal supplements and kidney disease lists the general concerns. Some supplements carry potassium and phosphorus. Some are contaminated with heavy metals like lead, mercury, or arsenic. Because some leave the body through the kidneys, “your body may develop toxic levels if you have kidney disease.” Each of these applies to shilajit specifically.

Potassium and phosphorus

The purified shilajit in the Patil trial listed potassium at 1.23%, phosphorus at 0.31%, and sodium at 0.54%. That works out to about 12 mg of potassium, 3 mg of phosphorus, and 5 mg of sodium per gram of product. These are small amounts, but they’re rarely on labels and vary by source. The National Kidney Foundation notes that people with kidney disease are at risk for potassium levels outside the goal range, too high or too low. Anyone on a potassium or phosphorus restriction should count every source, and an unlabeled supplement makes that impossible.

A single 2018 case report adds a twist. Doctors writing in Gynecological Endocrinology (Stavropoulos et al.) described a pregnant woman who had taken mumijo for six months and developed high blood pressure with low potassium. They diagnosed a licorice-like syndrome of excess mineralocorticoid activity acting on the kidney tubules, and it resolved after she stopped the product. It’s one case, but it shows potassium effects nobody has studied in trials.

Metals the kidneys have to clear

This is the most concrete concern, because the kidneys are a target for several toxic metals:

• Cadmium. According to the ATSDR’s cadmium fact sheet, long-term exposure to low levels in food or water “leads to a buildup of cadmium in the kidneys and possible kidney disease.”
• Lead. The ATSDR’s lead fact sheet states that lead exposure can damage the kidneys.
• Aluminum. The ATSDR’s aluminum fact sheet notes that “some people with kidney disease store a lot of aluminum in their bodies,” sometimes developing bone or brain disease.

How much shilajit actually contains varies. A 2022 analysis in Biological Trace Element Research (Aldakheel et al.) tested shilajit of Indian and Pakistani origin. It found aluminum, lead, arsenic, and mercury, among others, “in amounts that exceeded the standard permissible limit.” A 2024 review in the same journal (Hussain and Saeed) pooled published analyses. It cites a WHO/FDA limit of 10 ppm for lead in herbal drugs and found most reported metal levels were below WHO and FDA limits, “except in few studies where exceeded levels were reported.” It concluded that taking shilajit “without knowing permissible levels of metals is not safe.” Even the trial-grade purified shilajit in the Patil study listed aluminum at 0.070% (roughly 700 µg per gram) and lead at 0.017% (about 170 µg per gram, well above the 10 ppm limit cited above).

A batch-specific lab report with measured values is the reasonable safeguard; our guide to spotting fake or unpurified shilajit explains how to read one. With reduced kidney function, though, a clean report only removes one unknown.

Shilajit and Kidney Stones: What’s Actually Known

People searching “shilajit kidney stones” want to know whether it causes stones or dissolves them. We couldn’t find good evidence either way.

• Oxalate. This is the first thing stone-formers ask about, and we found no published measurement of it in shilajit. The composition analyses we read list minerals, humic substances, and metals, not oxalate.
• Calcium. Shilajit contains calcium (2.83% in the Patil trial’s product). Whether that affects stone risk at supplement doses hasn’t been studied.
• Animal data. In a 2020 rat study in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering (Dashnyam et al.), osteoporotic rats got calcium-salt tablets that contained shilajit, vitamin D, and Rhodiola rosea for 45 days, and “no renal stone growth was observed.” That’s a combination product in rats, not shilajit alone in people.

If you’ve had stones, your known stone type matters more than anything published about shilajit, so bring the product to the clinician who manages them.

The Uric Acid and Gout Question

Many websites say people with gout or high uric acid should avoid shilajit. We couldn’t trace that warning to a clinical study, case report, or pharmacopoeia entry, and found no published measurement of shilajit’s purine content. Nor did any human trial whose lab tables we could read report serum uric acid; the only uric acid data we found came from the osteosarcoma rat study above.

So the gout warning is unproven, but so is the reassurance. If you have gout or take uric-acid-lowering medication, ask your doctor whether shilajit makes sense for you, and don’t change your gout medication because of a supplement.

Claim vs. Evidence

Claim	What the evidence actually shows
“Shilajit is good for your kidneys”	No human trial has tested kidney benefit. Protective effects appear only in rats given kidney-damaging drugs or a cancer model.
“Shilajit is bad for your kidneys”	In adults without kidney disease, kidney markers stayed stable over 28 to 90 days in the few studies that reported them. No study we found reported kidney harm in people with normal function.
“It’s safe with chronic kidney disease”	Untested. The trials that listed exclusions screened out kidney disease.
“It causes (or dissolves) kidney stones”	No oxalate data and no human stone data. Not shown either way.
“Avoid it if you have gout”	We couldn’t trace this to a clinical source, and no human trial we read measured uric acid. Unproven, not disproven.
“Purified shilajit has no metals”	Even a trial-grade purified product listed lead at 0.017% (about 170 µg per gram) and aluminum at 0.070%. Commercial samples have exceeded limits in at least one analysis.

Lab Values to Ask Your Doctor About

If you and your doctor decide to proceed, these are markers you could ask about:

• Serum creatinine and eGFR. The core kidney function numbers. The National Kidney Foundation’s eGFR explainer notes that creatinine comes partly from the breakdown of muscle, so mention your training and any other supplements.
• Cystatin C. A second blood marker labs can use to estimate eGFR.
• Urine albumin (uACR). The National Kidney Foundation recommends it alongside eGFR for a complete picture. None of the shilajit trials we read reported it.
• Potassium, sodium, and phosphorus. Most relevant if you have CKD or take a medication that raises potassium.
• Uric acid. Worth adding if you have gout or a history of uric acid stones.
• Blood lead. Worth discussing if you plan long-term use of a product without a batch-specific metals report.

Note the product’s lot number, and let your doctor decide which tests, if any, make sense and interpret the results. For the amounts used in studies, see our dosage guide.

Questions to Bring to Your Nephrologist

If you have CKD, are on dialysis, or have a transplant, this conversation comes before the first dose. The National Kidney Foundation suggests bringing the actual bottle. Useful questions:

1. Given my current eGFR and potassium and phosphorus levels, is an unlabeled mineral supplement reasonable for me at all?
2. Does anything I take, like a potassium-raising blood pressure drug, a binder, or a transplant medication, make this riskier?
3. Would you want a batch-specific lab report for lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, and aluminum before I take it?
4. If you’re okay with a trial, which labs should we check first, and when should we recheck?
5. What symptoms should make me stop and call?

If the answer is no, that’s the answer. Don’t start, stop, or adjust any medication, dialysis prescription, or diet plan based on a supplement.

FAQ

Is shilajit good for your kidneys if they’re healthy? There’s no human evidence that it improves kidney function. In the few short trials that checked, creatinine and urea didn’t change meaningfully in people without kidney disease. That suggests no obvious short-term harm, not a benefit.

Is shilajit bad for your kidneys? Not in the limited healthy-adult data. The bigger risks are contamination and mineral content, and both matter most when the kidneys are already impaired.

Can I take shilajit with chronic kidney disease? Only your nephrologist can answer that. People with kidney disease were excluded from the trials we checked, so there’s no safety data for you.

Does shilajit cause kidney stones? No study we found shows it does, and no one has published its oxalate content. If you form stones, check with the clinician who manages them.

Can someone on dialysis take shilajit? Only if their dialysis team approves it. People on dialysis often need to limit potassium and phosphorus, and metals the kidneys would normally clear can build up.

Related Guides

• Shilajit side effects and safety: documented versus theoretical risks.
• Shilajit benefits, graded by evidence: every common claim and how much research backs it.
• What is shilajit?: the plain-language definition and glossary.

Bottom Line

Is shilajit good for kidneys? The evidence doesn’t show it. Rat studies report protection against drug-induced kidney injury, a reason for more research, not for taking it. In people, kidney markers appear only as safety checks in small, short trials, where creatinine and urea stayed stable.

Kidney disease changes the picture. Those trials excluded CKD, shilajit carries unlabeled potassium and phosphorus, and even a purified trial product listed lead at about 170 µg per gram, well above a 10 ppm limit, plus aluminum, metals that impaired kidneys handle poorly. The stone and gout claims, in either direction, aren’t backed by published data. With healthy kidneys, choose a product with a batch-specific metals report. With CKD, talk to your nephrologist first, and never change treatment because of a supplement.