Notice anything absent from your soy latte this morning? We did: Your favorite way to wake up may have less calcium than you expected. Research shows that a large percentage of the calcium that's added to beverages settles at the bottom of the carton, so less of the bone-building mineral ends up in your glass (unless you're the lucky one who polishes off the container)

How much calcium falls to the bottom depends on which calcium-fortified beverage you're drinking. In one study, calcium in orange juice stayed in suspension best (although different brands tended to have different separation rates). About 8% to 50% of the calcium separated out of the juice; more settled out of soymilk and rice milk.

The fix? Pretty simple, and we bet you guessed it: Shake the carton before drinking. Even so, one study found that vigorous shaking didn't resuspend all the calcium. If you're really concerned about calcium, sip beverages where it naturally appears in abundance, like dairy products. Only about 11% of the calcium in nonfat milk separates out.

Of course, all the calcium in the carton won't help you if you don't also get vitamin D, the nutrient that helps calcium get absorbed into your body. It's not much good for you to get calcium to your intestinal doors if D's not around to let it in. We recommend getting 1,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D if you're under age 60 and 1,200 IU if you're over 60. By the way, we also recommend 300 milligrams of magnesium a day to prevent constipation from the calcium.

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