Calcium in Milk vs. Soy Milk, Almond Milk and Rice Milk

Milk and dairy products are a major source of dietary calcium. You are required to take in at least 1000 milligrams of calcium per day though your diet, and having 2 to 3 servings of dairy everyday can help ensure proper body functions like cell metabolism, conduction of nerve impulses and healthy bone development. However, milk may not be suitable for everyone such as people with lactose intolerance or casein allergies. Fortunately, nondairy alternatives with a similar taste to milk can be made from soy, almond and rice. By nature, these products have quite different calcium contents, but through food fortification, the calcium deficits in various nondairy milk products are no longer an issue.
 
Natural Level of Calcium in Dairy and Nondairy Milk

In nature, it is without a doubt that cow milk holds the highest amount of calcium compared to other milk alternatives. Each 8 ounce serving of milk contains about 300 milligrams of calcium. Soy milk comes in second at approximately 50 milligrams. Because calcium in almonds and rice are significantly lower compared with the previous two, milk made from these ingredients have a much lower calcium content. There are only 2 milligrams of calcium in an 8 ounce cup of plain almond milk, and less than 1 milligram is found in rice milk. Therefore, homemade or unfortified almond and rice milk should not be used to replace cows milk as a source of calcium.
Calcium and Vitamin D Fortifications

Popular producers like Silk, Blue Diamond and Rice Dreams profoundly make up for the insufficiencies of natural nutrition in their product. In terms of meeting the dietary requirement of calcium, these companies usually partner the addition of calcium with vitamin D. This is because your body needs vitamin D in order to absorb calcium. Because cows milk is naturally high in calcium, it is only necessary to incorporate extra vitamin D during fortification. After the process, cow, soy, almond and rice milk are approximately equivalent in both calcium and vitamin D concentration. An average cup of fortified dairy and nondairy milk contribute to about 30% of your daily need for calcium and 25% to 45% of your need for vitamin D.
Calcium Absorption in Dairy and Nondairy Milk

A lot of people argue that calcium found in natural foods is better absorbed by the body than from fortified foods. Whether this argument is true really depends on a number of factors.
Stomach Acidity: Calcium is better absorbed in acidic conditions. In this regard, lactose found in dairy milk does accelerate your body’s calcium uptake.
Presence of phosphate: Phosphate can inhibit calcium absorption. Studies have shown that fortification of nondairy milk with tricalcium phosphate have 25% less absorption efficiency compared to cow milk. However, if fortification is done with tricalcium carbonate instead, this disadvantage in absorption no longer exists.   
Calcium Precipitation: Fortified calcium can precipitate to the bottom of the container which decreases the total availability of calcium in your milk. Shaking your cartons well before serving is crucial to avoiding this problem.
Estrogen: Soy milk contain plant estrogen that increases your body’s ability to absorb calcium.

Soy Milk vs. Almond Milk: Which is Healthier?

In comparing the two, soy milk and almond milk provide similar health benefits. Depending on your dietary requirements or physical fitness goals, one or the other will serve as the better option. In their plain forms without additives, both soy and almond milk contain high levels of vitamins and minerals essential for bone and cell growth.  

The Simple Similarities

At a glance, soy milk and almond look nearly the same according to their nutritional labels. Both have low levels of fats. Neither of the two contains trans fats or cholesterol. Another similarity lies within the mineral contents. Per every one cup serving of either soy milk or almond milk, each provides us with 30% of our recommended daily value of calcium.
Both almond milk and soy milk have low carbohydrate content, though in each type, most of the carbs come from sugars. Each has 1 gram of fiber per one cup serving, while 6 to 7 of their carb sources come from simple sugars.

The Simple Differences

While soy milk provides about 100 calories per every one cup, almond milk has about 40 less at only 60 calories. Soy milk has 4 grams of fats compared to the 2.5 grams in the almond alternative.
The protein content also varies between these two milk choices. Most natural almond milk choices will have no more than 1 gram of protein per serving, while soy milk usually has close to 7 or 8 grams.
Almond milk does have some nutrients that the soy product does not provide. Soy milk has no phosphorus, while almond milk has about 6% of our daily recommended value per serving. Almond milk also contains high levels of Vitamin E, while soy milk has none.
Generally, soy milk will carry more B Vitamins because of its high protein content in comparison to that of almond milk.

The Health Debate

We all know that almond milk comes from almonds while soy milk comes from soy beans. However, this little piece of knowledge acts as the main source of debate between these two products.
Some people have a strong objection to soy products based on its potential ability to disrupt hormone production in men and women. Since almonds have shown no sort of potential risk, many people feel much more comfortable consuming products derived from the snack nut.
In any sense, almond milk serves as the better choice for those fearing the effects of soy, even though the product does contain superior levels of beneficial nutrients.

Choosing Almond Milk

Since almond milk and the almond nut provide no serious known risk (provided you don’t have a nut allergy), choosing this option serves as the safer choice. One study in 2008 did in fact show how consuming excessive soy derived products negatively effects the sperm concentration of males.
For women, drinking too much soy has shown connection with an increase in breast cancer. This connection became prevalent in a study connected in the year 2000, but was later negated by a study that showed the exact opposite results.
One certain fact explains that soy and its long term effects on our health remain uncertain.

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