Written by Joyce Smith, BS. Eight weeks of PrimaVie® Shilajit supplementation at 500 mg/L per day significantly decreased hydroxyproline levels and helped maintain maximum muscle strength following a fatiguing exercise protocol in the participating physically active men.

men's healthThere is an increased interest in nutritional supplements that relate to muscle function and connective tissue health and contain ingredients common to traditional Ayurvedic 1. One such product is Shilajit, a safe, fluvic mineral complex exudate composed of fulvic acids, dibenzo-α-pyrones, proteins, and minerals 2. Shilajit supplementation, in previous studies, has been shown to promote collagen and connective tissue integrity. Collagen, comprising 30 % of all body protein, is an abundant structural protein present in bone, tendons, ligaments and muscle, and, when degraded, has been implicated in bone, 3 tendon, 4 and muscle –related injuries 5. Hydroxyproline, is an amino acid that is commonly used as a biomarker of collagen degradation and connective tissue integrity following high intensity exercise 6

The authors designed the following study 7 to determine the effects of shilajit intervention on maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) strength, concentric peak torque, fatigue-induced percent decline in strength, and serum levels of hydroxyproline. Sixty- three men, actively involved in recreational sports such as basketball, flag-football, softball, and rugby, were randomized into three groups (n=21) to receive either placebo, low dose (250 mg) or high dose (500 mg) of shilajit for eight weeks. The authors hypothesized that collagen degradation along with all indicators of muscle strength would improve with the high dose Shilajit compared to the low dose and placebo.

Prior to and at the end of the eight-week supplementation, pre and post exercise performance of the participants was evaluated for maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) strength, concentric peak torque, and fatigue-induced decline in strength. In addition, serum levels of hydroxyproline were assessed to determine the levels of collagen degradation.

The decline in MVIC strength, subsequent to fatigue, was significantly less in the high dose shilajit group (8.9 ± 2.3%) compared to the low dose shilajit (17.0 ± 2.4%; p= 0.022) and placebo (16.0 ± 2.4%; p = 0.044) groups. An analysis of the study participants whose presupplementation baseline hydroxyproline values were among the 50th percentile, revealed that those in the high dose Shilajit group had significantly lower hydroxyproline values (1.5 ± 0.3 μg/mL− 1) than the participants in both the low dose (2.4 ± 0.3 μg/mL− 1; p = 0.034) and placebo (2.4 ± 0.3 μg/mL− 1, p = 0.024) groups, signifying better tissue integrity with less collagen degradation.

While this study may be the first to explore the effects of shilajit supplementation on fatigue-related performance outcomes using a resistance exercise model, the study authors recommend additional larger studies utilizing a variety of different exercises to further explore this supplementations’ potential ergogenic impact.

Source: Keller, Joshua L., Terry J. Hush, Ethan C. Hill, Cory M. Smith, Richard J. Schmidt, and Glen O. Johnson. “The effects of Shilajit supplementation on fatigue-induced decreases in muscular strength and serum hydroxyproline levels.” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 16, no. 1 (2019): 3.

© The Author(s). 2019 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

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Posted March 18, 2019.

Joyce Smith, BS, is a degreed laboratory technologist. She received her bachelor of arts with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Biology from the University of Saskatchewan and her internship through the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine and the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She currently resides in Bloomingdale, IL.

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