Consumers may miss needed calcium - The Supplements may help.

As reported, the soy, Rice drinks can be as much as 85% lower Calcium than Cow Milk.

I have found that lack of calcium would cause insomnia & weak bone.

The alternative is like the old time, boil bone soup evryday to supplement it.

With the mordern science, another alternative is to take the Calcium supplement.


Consumers may miss needed calcium
By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY
For the 30 million to 50 million Americans who do not drink cow's milk for medical or cultural reasons, calcium-fortified beverages have been a convenient source of the crucial bone-building material.

But a study published Monday in Nutrition Today finds that the calcium actually available in some popular soy and rice drinks can be as much as 85% lower than the amount on the product label.

It's not that the drinks do not contain the calcium listed on the label, an omission that would violate the Food and Drug Administration's labeling requirements.

Instead, the researchers found that calcium can settle out of soy and rice beverages, forming a calcium sludge at the bottom of the carton that does not always make it into the consumer's mouth.

So the moral of this story is that shaking before pouring is crucial. Connie Weaver, a professor of nutrition at Purdue University who studies calcium metabolism, says, "We had to shake the carton right before serving it, because if it's on the bottom of the carton, you're not getting it in your glass."

She notes that the calcium settling is less of a problem in beverages kept in the dairy case of the supermarket than it is in cartons stored on non-refrigerated shelves.

Calcium in cow's milk, meant to help calves build strong bones, occurs naturally. It must be added to soy and rice beverages, as well as to orange juice, generally in the form of finely ground calcium powders. Soluble calcium can't be used because it turns the protein in soy milk into curds, producing tofu.

Scientists at the Osteoporosis Research Center at Creighton University in Omaha spun various fortified beverages in a centrifuge, then measured how much calcium ended up as separate particles at the bottom of the test tubes.

In cow's milk, 11% of the calcium separated out. But in soy and rice milks, an average of 85% did. The numbers in orange juice were more variable, from 8% to 50%.

"You're pouring yourself a glass of soy beverage thinking you're going to get calcium, and it may still be in the carton," says Robert Heaney, the endocrinologist who wrote the research paper.

Reproducing what a cow does naturally isn't easy, Weaver says. "Mother Nature put it together, and it doesn't sediment out."

Recent tests done in her lab showed that the type of calcium used to fortify a beverage affects how well it is absorbed in the body, with calcium carbonate being better absorbed than the more commonly used tricalcium phosphate.

The Department of Agriculture recommends consumption of 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams of calcium a day, depending on age and gender. Fortified beverages almost all include 300 milligrams of calcium a serving.

For those attempting to increase their calcium intake, these findings could be a problem, says Nelson Watts, director of the University of Cincinnati Bone Health and Osteoporosis Center.

"I tell patients who enjoy soy milk to check and see that their soy milk is fortified with calcium," he says. "But I'm at the mercy of the label, and if that's wrong, then the patients aren't getting the calcium they need, and I can't do anything about it."

Heaney stresses the findings do not make these soy and rice beverages bad. "Even if you absorb only a quarter of the calcium you think you're getting, you're still getting more than you would if they weren't calcium-fortified."

There are ways to make soy milk from isolated soy protein that allow the calcium to be fully available, says David Welsby of the Solae company in St. Louis, which has patented one such method. The researchers studied only soy milk made from whole soybeans.

The research was paid for primarily by Creighton University, with small grants from Tropicana, General Mills and the National Dairy Council.
USATODAY.com - Consumers may miss needed calcium