Shilajit

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Shilajit in a glass of water.
Shilajit, as commonly consumed.

Shilajit (Sanskrit: शिलाजीत) or Mumijo is a blackish-brown powder or an exudate from high mountain rocks, often found in the Himalayas, Karakoram, Nepal, Bhutan, Girda (Buldhana, MH, India), Russia, Iran, Mongolia and in the south of Peru, where it is called Andean Shilajit.[1]

Although shilajit is sometimes referred to as a mineral tar or resin, it is not actually either of those. It is a highly viscous substance like a tar or resin that is very dark brown or black in color, but unlike these is readily soluble in water but insoluble in ethanol. Shilajit is composed of 60% to 80% humic substances such as humic and fulvic acids, along with trace oligoelements including selenium.[2]

Some researchers hypothesize that shilajit is produced by the decomposition or humification of latex and resin-bearing plant material from species such as Euphorbia royleana and Trifolium repens over a period of centuries.[3][4]

References[]

  1. ^ Hill, Carol A.; Forti, Paolo (1997). Cave Minerals of the World. National Speleological Society. ISBN 978-1-879961-07-4.[page needed]
  2. ^ Khanna, Rajesh; Witt, Matthias; Khalid Anwer, Md.; Agarwal, Suraj P.; Koch, Boris P. (December 2008). "Spectroscopic characterization of fulvic acids extracted from the rock exudate Shilajit". Organic Geochemistry. 39 (12): 1719–1724. doi:10.1016/j.orggeochem.2008.08.009.
  3. ^ Agarwal, Suraj P.; Khanna, Rajesh; Karmarkar, Ritesh; Anwer, Md. Khalid; Khar, Roop K. (May 2007). "Shilajit: a review". Phytotherapy Research. 21 (5): 401–405. doi:10.1002/ptr.2100. PMID 17295385. S2CID 40620070.
  4. ^ Ghosal, S.; Reddy, J.P.; Lal, V.K. (May 1976). "Shilajit I: Chemical Constituents". Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 65 (5): 772–773. doi:10.1002/jps.2600650545. PMID 932958.
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