Is Shilajit Banned in Sport? What Athletes in Australia and New Zealand Need to Know
We are not aware of shilajit being named on the World Anti-Doping Agency's Prohibited List. That is a different statement from "safe to take if you are drug tested", and the distance between those two is what this article covers.
Short answer
Shilajit is not a banned substance by name as far as we can find. The risk for tested athletes is contamination, because anti-doping rules hold you responsible for whatever is in your sample, whatever the label said. Anyone subject to testing should check with their sport's anti-doping organisation before taking any supplement, shilajit included.
In this article
How the Prohibited List works
WADA publishes the Prohibited List each year, and the 2026 version applies from 1 January 2026. It names many substances and also lists whole categories, such as anabolic agents, stimulants and hormone modulators. The list does not name every compound that falls inside a category. USADA, the US anti-doping agency, makes the same point in its advice on the 2026 list: a substance can be absent by name and still belong to a listed category.
So "it isn't on the list" is a weaker reassurance than it sounds. For a single clear ingredient, you can search its name on GlobalDRO, the database run by anti-doping organisations. For a natural resin that is a mixture of many compounds, a name search tells you less.
The real risk: what else is in the product
This is the part that should get your attention, and honestly the number that stuck with us is the second one.
In 2022, Sport Integrity Australia commissioned the testing lab HASTA (Human and Supplement Testing Australia) to buy and analyse 200 sports supplements sold online in Australia. Findings were released in April 2025. Thirty-five percent of the products, about one in three, contained at least one WADA prohibited substance. Of those positives, 57% did not list the prohibited ingredient on the packaging or website. Many of the substances detected were naturally occurring compounds, and only two products contained high levels of synthetic stimulants.
One caveat we want to be clear about. That survey covered sports supplements such as pre-workouts and protein products, not resins, and we have no evidence about shilajit products in particular. We cite it because it shows how often something unlabelled turns up in the aisle athletes actually shop in.
New Zealand has its own example. A 2022 Consumer NZ investigation, reported by Drug Free Sport New Zealand (now the Sport Integrity Commission Te Kahu Raunui), found illegal drugs or banned substances in six supplements bought from New Zealand stores. The contaminants included amphetamine-like stimulants, Parkinson's medications and ADHD medications, and three of them are prohibited in sport.
Strict liability, in plain terms
Sport Integrity Commission Te Kahu Raunui, supplement guidance
That is the rule behind everything above. Under the World Anti-Doping Code, a first violation can carry a ban of up to four years. A contaminated product can influence the sanction you receive, but it does not make the positive test disappear. That is why anti-doping bodies keep telling athletes to treat every supplement as a risk, and why Sport Integrity Australia's own spokesperson put it this way: no supplement is 100 per cent safe.
Batch testing and where it stops
The standard answer is batch testing. Independent programmes such as HASTA and Informed Sport screen specific production batches for prohibited substances, and Sport Integrity Australia works with both. The New Zealand guidance is careful about what that buys you: higher confidence in a specific batch, not certainty. Batch-tested products are the lowest-risk option, and you can still face sanctions if one of them turns out to be contaminated.
It follows that the batch number matters. If you do use a batch-tested product, keep the batch number and your receipt.
Where our own lab report fits
Batch 1093 of ShilNepal Shilajit Resin had heavy metals tested by Eurofins Food Australia. Our lab page also reports fulvic and humic acid percentages, but those come from a separate compositional analysis and are not part of the Eurofins report. Neither is an anti-doping screen, so neither says anything about prohibited substances, and we are not presenting ShilNepal as a batch-tested sports supplement. If you compete in tested sport, treat our lab report as answering a different question from the one your anti-doping organisation is asking.
The testosterone question
One randomised, placebo-controlled trial in healthy men aged 45 to 55 gave 250mg of purified shilajit twice a day for 90 days. It reported statistically significant increases in total testosterone, free testosterone and DHEAS compared with placebo. We went through that trial in our evidence review.
Raising your own hormone levels is not the same as taking a banned steroid, and nothing here says shilajit is prohibited. But doping control reads steroid profile measures, and we found no study testing whether shilajit shifts them. That makes it a question to put to your anti-doping organisation, not a known problem. Ask it before you start, not after a result.
What a tested athlete should do
- 1Contact your sport's anti-doping organisation first. In Australia that is Sport Integrity Australia, and in New Zealand the Sport Integrity Commission Te Kahu Raunui.
- 2Search the ingredients on GlobalDRO, knowing a name search is weaker for a natural mixture.
- 3Prefer products that are batch tested by an independent programme, and keep the batch number and receipt.
- 4List everything you take on your doping control form when you are tested.
- 5Ask whether you need it at all. Both countries' guidance starts with food first.
FAQ
Is shilajit on the WADA Prohibited List?
We are not aware of shilajit being named on the list. The list is not exhaustive, so absence by name does not guarantee a product is permitted, and contamination remains the main risk.
Will shilajit show up on a drug test?
We found no evidence that shilajit itself is screened for. The concern is that a supplement could contain an undeclared prohibited substance, which would show up.
Do club and amateur athletes need to worry about this?
It depends on whether your sport's rules bind you to the anti-doping code, and many amateur competitions do. Check with your sport or your national anti-doping organisation.
Is taking shilajit legal if I am not a tested athlete?
Anti-doping rules only apply to people bound by them. Whether shilajit can be sold and imported is a separate regulatory question, covered in our articles on shilajit in Australia and New Zealand.
References
- Sport Integrity Australia. New supplement survey finds one in three products contain banned substances. Media statement, April 2025. 200 products analysed by HASTA.
- Sport Integrity Commission Te Kahu Raunui (formerly Drug Free Sport New Zealand). Supplements containing banned substances found in Consumer NZ investigation. February 2022.
- Sport Integrity Commission Te Kahu Raunui. Good decisions: supplement guidance for athletes (strict liability, batch testing and food-first advice).
- USADA. What's new on the 2026 WADA Prohibited List. Athlete advisory, 2026.
- World Anti-Doping Agency. The 2026 Prohibited List. In force 1 January 2026.
- Pandit S, et al. Clinical evaluation of purified Shilajit on testosterone levels in healthy volunteers. Andrologia. 2016;48(5):570 to 575. DOI 10.1111/and.12482.
This is general information, not anti-doping advice. Rules change, so confirm with your national anti-doping organisation. ShilNepal Shilajit Resin is not registered with the Therapeutic Goods Administration and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.