Health Beneficial Effects of Moomiaii in Traditional Medicine

Hazardous or Advantageous: Uncovering the Roles of Heavy Metals and Humic Substances in Shilajit (Phyto-mineral) with Emphasis on Heavy Metals Toxicity and Their Detoxification Mechanisms

Shilajit is a phyto-mineral diffusion and semi-solid matter used as traditional medicine with extraordinary health benefits. This study provides a comprehensive data on Shilajit with emphasis on heavy metal profile, associated toxicities, and metal detoxification mechanisms by humic substances present in Shilajit. Data was searched across papers and traditional books using Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, Medline, SciELO, Web of Science, and Scopus as key scientific databases. Findings showed that Shilajit is distributed in almost 20 regions of the world with uses against 20 health problems as traditional medicine. With various humic substances, almost 11 biological activities were reported in Shilajit. This phyto-mineral diffusion possesses around 65 heavy metals including the toxic heavy metals like Cu, Al, Pb, As, Cd, and Hg. However, humic substances in Shilajit actively detoxify around 12 heavy metals. The recommended levels of heavy metals by WHO and FDA in herbal drugs is 0.20 and 0.30 ppm for Cd, 1 ppm for Hg, 10.00 ppm for As and Pb, 20 ppm for Cu, and 50 ppm for Zn. The levels of reported metals in Shilajit were found to be lower than the permissible limits set by WHO and FDA, except in few studies where exceeded levels were reported. Shilajit consumption without knowing permissible levels of metals is not safe and could pose serious health problems. Although the humic substances and few metals in Shilajit are beneficial in terms of chelating toxic heavy metals, the data on metal detoxification still needs to be clarified.

A Comprehensive Review on Shilajit: What We Know about Its Chemical Composition

Shilajit, a natural material known for thousands of years, is primarily famous because it was the main constituent used for the mummification of bodies by dynastic Egyptians. However, for millennia, it has also been an important drug and supplement in traditional and modern medicine. A full search of Shilajit in the literature, reveals that its chemical composition is not known with certainty. That's due to the fact that surprisingly, no comprehensive chemical analysis has ever been performed to find all the chemicals and species present in it. Moreover, its source is not known; some believe that it is formed from dead plant residues or animal excrements, and some others believe it is a mineral secreted from rocks gradually. In this review article, it is tried to gather chemical property information available regarding this soft, mysterious black material to clarify what it is composed of and what formulation commercial supplements and drugs based on Shilajit may have. While there are many differences in the chemical compositions of Shilajit from various regions, it has been discovered that more than 80% of weight of Shilajit is mainly composed of humic substances and almost 20% of its weight consists of calcium, potassium, and magnesium. It also contains amino acids (mainly glycine) and proteins, fatty acids, bioactive compounds such as caffeic acid and gallic acid, and heavy metals including chromium, selenium, and cobalt.

Therapeutic Efficiency of Humic Acids in Intoxications

Humins, humic and fulvic acids represent molecules with complex structures. These compounds comprising humic substances (HS) exist naturally in soil, brown coal, peat, and water. They are formed during the decomposition and transformation of organic matter (animal and plant remains) and their formation explains several theories. Within their chemical structures, there are numerous phenolic and carboxyl groups and their derivatives that affect their different properties, such as their solubility in water or their absorption of cations or mycotoxins. The manifold chemical structure of HS alters their polyelectrolyte character and thus their chelating efficiency. For many years, HS have been studied due to their detoxification, anti-, and pro-inflammatory or anticancer and antiviral ability. This article summarizes the antioxidant and adsorption properties of humic acids, highlighting their usefulness in intoxications.

Accelerating effect of Shilajit on osteogenic property of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASCs)

BACKGROUND

Shilajit has been widely used remedy for treating a numerous of illness such as bone defects in Iran traditional folk medicine since hundreds of years ago. The aim of the present study was to explore the effect of Shilajit on the osteogenic differentiation of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASCs) in two- (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) cultures.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

ASCs were seeded in 3D 1% alginate (Alg) hydrogel with or without Shilajit (500 µg/mL) and compared with 2D cultures. Then, characterization was done using electron microscopy (SEM)/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, alizarin red staining and Raman confocal microscopy.

RESULTS

Adding Shilajit had no impact on the Alg scaffold degradability. In the 3D hydrogel and in the presence of osteogenic medium (OM), Shilajit acted as enhancer to increase ALP activity and also showed osteoinductive property in the absence of OM compared to the 2D matched groups at all time points (days 7 and 21 both P = 0.0006, for 14 days P = 0.0006 and P = 0.002, respectively). In addition, calcium deposition was significantly increased in the cultures exposed to Shilajit compared to 2D matched groups on days 14 (P < 0.0001) and 21 (P = 0.0003 and P = 0.003, respectively). In both 3D and 2D conditions, Shilajit induced osteogenic differentiation, but Shilajit/Alg combination starts osteogenic differentiation in a short period of time.

CONCLUSION

As Shilajit accelerates the differentiation of ASCs into the osteoblasts, without changing the physical properties of the Alg hydrogel, this combination may pave the way for more promising remedies considering bone defects.

Shilajit potentiates the effect of chemotherapeutic drugs and mitigates metastasis induced liver and kidney damages in osteosarcoma rats

Osteosarcoma is a primary malignant cancer of the bone identified by the direct formation of osteoid tissue or immature bone by cancer cells. The liver and kidneys represent two major secondary organs to which osteosarcoma metastasizes. In this study, we assessed Shilajit, a phytomineral diffusion traditionally used in Ayurvedic medicine, for its possible protective effects against metastasis induced liver and kidney damages in an osteosarcoma rat model. Osteosarcoma rats displayed typical dysregulation of serum levels of hepatic and renal functional markers (p < 0.05) including aspartate aminotransferase (AST)* and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total proteins, albumin, bilirubin, creatinine, urea, and uric acid. Changes in functional markers were also positively correlated with marked histopathological alterations in liver and kidney tissues. Whereas Shilajit's treatment of osteosarcoma rates in combination with CMF (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil) chemotherapy drug cocktail significantly (p < 0.05) reversed the studied functional markers to their near-normal levels. Co-treatment of shilajit and drug cocktails also markedly alleviated histopathological changes in liver and kidney tissues. Correlation co-efficient analysis of hepatic and renal functional markers revealed a significant inter-association among these markers. Collectively, present data indicate that shilajit may potentiate the effects of chemotherapy drugs and mitigate the metastasis-induced liver and kidney damage in osteosarcoma. Thus, the findings of this study substantiate the beneficial health effects of shilajit and promote its regular consumption.

Effects of fulvic acid on growth performance, serum index, gut microbiota, and metabolites of Xianju yellow chicken

Fulvic acid (FA) is a mixture of polyphenolic acid compounds extracted from humus, peat, lignite, and aquatic environments; it is used in traditional medicine to treat digestive tract diseases. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of FA on growth performance, inflammation, intestinal microbiota, and metabolites in Xianju yellow chicken. The 240 Xianju yellow chickens (age, 524 days) included were randomly categorized into 4 treatments with 6 replicates per treatment and 10 birds per replicate. Birds received a basal diet or a diet supplemented with 500, 1,000, or 1,500 mg/kg of FA, for a period of 42 days. Dietary supplementation of FA improved average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) (P > 0.05). Compared with the control group, the serum level of TNF-α in birds supplemented with FA was significantly decreased (P < 0.05), and that of IL-2 was significantly increased after administration of 1,500 mg/kg FA (P < 0.05). Analysis of gut microbiota indicated that FA reduced the relative abundance of genus Mucispirillum, Anaerofustis, and Campylobacter, but enriched genus Lachnoclostridium, Subdoligranulum, Sphaerochaeta, Oscillibacter, and Catenibacillus among others. Untargeted metabolomic analyses revealed that FA increased 7-sulfocholic acid, but reduced the levels of Taurochenodeoxycholate-7-sulfate, LysoPC 20:4 (8Z, 11Z, 14Z, 17Z), LysoPC 18:2, Phosphocholine and other 13 metabolites in the cecum. The results demonstrated that FA may potentially have a significant positive effect on the growth performance and immune function of Xianju yellow chicken through the modulation of the gut microbiota.