Chemical composition of mumijo and methods for determining its authenticity and quality (a review)

Review on shilajit used in traditional Indian medicine

“…In Sanskrit, it is called shilajatu, shilaras, adrija and girija, all meaning 'derived from rock' (Ghosal, 2006). In Arabic arakul-dzhibol means 'sweat of mountain' whereas Tibetan or Mongolian brag-shun or bragzhun means 'juice of rock' and Burmese kao-tui or chao-tui implies 'blood of the mountains' (Frolova and Kiseleva, 1996). Shilajit in Tamil language implies that it is the 'essence from the mountain'.…”

“…In Greek, it is called as mumijo which means 'saving body' or 'protecting organism' (Frolova and Kiseleva, 1996). In Sanskrit, shilajit means 'destroyer of weakness' (Scholz-Böttcher et al, 2005).…”

“…In contrary to this hypothesis, the geological theory considers shilajit as a product of geological processes. Finally, the bio-mineralogical speculation is based on the assumption that shilajit is a secondary product, in which the mineral components are formed as a result of various migrations for example by mechanical contamination of a liquefied shilajit precursor (Frolova and Kiseleva, 1996). In addition, according to Ghosal (2006) shilajit is of marine animal origin-dead/fossil invertebrates, amongst which mollusks/ammonites constitute the major contributors.…”

“…1 and 2) physiologically active organic matter exuded from steep rocks in mountainous regions of the world (Garedew et al, 2004) especially in Central Asia (Himalaya, Pamir and Altai) and of unclear age (Ghosal, 1990;Kwon et al, 2004;Sharma, 2004;Scholz-Böttcher et al, 2005). In other words, shilajit is a tarry, solid or elastic natural product (Rakhmatullaeva and Aminov, 2005) typically in the form of shapeless pieces with non-uniformly porous or smooth surface having a characteristic balsamic odour (Frolova and Kiseleva, 1996). The organic exudate may vary in colour from blackish to brown and is found at high altitudes between 1000 and 5000 m on the walls of caves embedded in rocks or as rock exudates with specific weather conditions concerning summer and winter temperatures, duration of sunshine and amount of precipitation (Ali et al, 2004;Garedew et al, 2004).…”

Study of the amino acid fraction of dry mumijo extract

“…Now we are continuing investigations of the physicochemical properties of both raw mumijo materials and the preparations based on the mumijo. The results of these studies allowed us to suggest that the content of lipid fatty acids may serve as one of the criteria for assessment of the true natural origin and good quality of DME samples [3].An analysis of data available in the literature [4] showed that all the previously studied mumijo samples, representing various deposits, were reported to contain amino acids. However, the analyses were performed on samples differing by the degree of purification, using different analytical procedures and reagents.…”