Last Update in April 2023! When we talk about dairy-free living, concerns of calcium frequently come up. But calcium is abundant in our food supply. It’s naturally found in many foods, and is also added via fortification. In fact, there was a time when doctors waived the red flag over calcium toxicity concerns. Convenience food producers were tossing calcium into nearly everything, and sometimes in high quantities. General Mills was adding over 1000 milligrams of calcium to just 1 cup of Total cereal! Companies have since scaled back, and Total is no longer fortified with calcium. Instead, we’re seeing calcium fortification where we most expect it, like in our dairy-free milk alternatives.
How Much Calcium is in Your Plant Milk? How the Brands Measure Up
Plant milks aren’t naturally rich in calcium, so fortification is needed if a dairy milk nutrition “experience” is desired. Our chart below includes the calcium levels for over 100 brands, along with the type of calcium. To learn more about the calcium types, see our guide to calcium supplements.
Calcium and vitamin D fortification often go hand in hand, and vitamin D is beneficial for calcium usage and bone health. So I’ve included a column for vitamin D, too. The amounts listed below are for 1 cup of dairy-free milk beverage, with dairy (cow’s) milk listed at the top for reference. We used the “original” or “plain” varieties for this comparison. Calcium fortification amounts might vary a little between flavors.
| Brand | Calcium Type | Calcium (mg) | Vitamin D (IU) |
| Dairy Milk (1%) | phosphate | 290 | 127* |
| 365 Organic Almondmilk | phosphate | 50 | 200 |
| 365 Organic Coconut Milk | carbonate | 140 | 200 |
| 365 Organic Oatmilk | carb, phos | 350 | 144 |
| 365 Organic Soymilk | carbonate | 300 | 200 |
| 8th Continent Soymilk | phosphate | 300 | 100 |
| Almond Breeze Almond Milk | carbonate | 450 | 200 |
| Almond Dream | phosphate | 390 | 200 |
| BamNut Milk | unknown | 480 | 80 |
| Banana Wave Bananamilk | phosphate | 300 | 160 |
| Better Than Milk Almond | N/A | 0 | 0 |
| Better Than Milk Hazelnut Rice | N/A | 0 | 0 |
| Better Than Milk Oat | N/A | 0 | 0 |
| Better Than Milk Rice | seaweed | 290 | 0 |
| Califia Farms Almondmilk | carbonate | 430 | 0 |
| Califia Farms Oatmilk | carbonate | 240 | 0 |
| Califia Farms Protein Oat Milk | carbonate | 595 | 200 |
| Chobani Oat Milk | carb, phos | 325 | 120 |
| Coconut Dream | phosphate | 390 | 200 |
| Dream Whole Ricemilk | phosphate | 320 | 192 |
| Earth’s Own Oat Milk | phos, carb | 300 | 80 |
| Earth’s Own Almond Milk | carbonate | 300 | 80 |
| Earth’s Own Cashew Milk | carbonate | 390 | 360 |
| Elmhurst Milked Almonds | N/A | 7 | 0 |
| Elmhurst Milked Cashews | N/A | 15 | 0 |
| Elmhurst Milked Hazelnuts | N/A | 24 | 0 |
| Elmhurst Milked Oats | N/A | 18 | 0 |
| Elmhurst Milked Walnuts | N/A | 24 | 0 |
| Forager Project Cashewmilk | N/A | 26 | 0 |
| Forager Project Oatmilk | N/A | 26 | 0 |
| Forager Project Soymilk | carbonate | 260 | 160 |
| Good & Gather Almond Milk | carbonate | 450 | 100 |
| Good & Gather Coconut Milk | phosphate | 350 | 136 |
| Good & Gather Oatmilk | phos, carb | 110 | 116 |
| Good Karma Flaxmilk | phosphate | 270 | 88 |
| Good Karma Flaxmilk + Protein | phosphate | 320 | 92 |
| Good Karma Plantmilk | phosphate | 300 | 96 |
| Happy Planet Oatmilk | phos, carb | 300 | 84 |
| Hope & Sesame Sesamemilk (old/new) | phosphate | 130/390 | 400 |
| Kiki Mac NutMilk | seaweed | 310 | 0 |
| Kirkland Organic Almond Beverage | N/A | 26 | 200 |
| Kirkland Organic Soy Beverage | carbonate | 325 | 240 |
| Koita Almond Coconut Milk | seaweed | 290 | 0 |
| Koita Almond Milk | N/A | 10 | 0 |
| Koita Coconut Milk | N/A | 0 | 0 |
| Koita Oat Milk | phosphate | 290 | 80 |
| Koita Rice Milk | N/A | 0 | 0 |
| Koita Soy Milk | seaweed | 380 | 80 |
| Lavva Plant Milk | N/A | 79 | 0 |
| Malibu Flax Mylk | N/A | 52 | 0 |
| Malk Almond Milk | N/A | 39 | 0 |
| Malk Cashew Milk | N/A | 8 | 0 |
| Malk Pecan Milk | N/A | 17 | 0 |
| Mamma Chia Chiamilk | carbonate | 390 | 480 |
| Milkadamia Macadamia Milk | phosphate | 390 | 200 |
| Mooala Almondmilk | carbonate | 280 | 0 |
| Mooala Bananamilk | carbonate | 300 | 0 |
| Mooala Keto Mylk | carbonate | 140 | 80 |
| Natural Bliss Oat Milk | N/A | 0 | 120 |
| New Barn Organic Almondmilk | N/A | 16 | 0 |
| NotMilk | carb, phos | 320 | 184 |
| Oat Dream | carb, phos | 300 | 200 |
| Oatly Oatmilk | carb, phos | 350 | 0 |
| Oatsome Oat Milk | carbonate | 289 | 80 |
| Orgain Organic Almond Milk | phosphate | 250 | 120 |
| Pacific Foods Almond Milk | N/A | 0 | 80 |
| Pacific Foods Cashew Milk | phosphate | 44 | 0 |
| Pacific Foods Coconut Milk | phosphate | 62 | 80 |
| Pacific Foods Hazelnut Milk | phosphate | 123 | 80 |
| Pacific Foods Hemp Milk | phosphate | 257 | 80 |
| Pacific Foods Oat Milk | phosphate | 121 | 80 |
| Pacific Foods Soy Milk | N/A | 35 | 0 |
| Pacific Foods Ultra Soy Milk | phosphate | 276 | 80 |
| Perennial | phosphate | 390 | 200 |
| Planet Oat Oatmilk | carbonate | 350 | 160 |
| Rice Dream | phosphate | 390 | 200 |
| Ripple Kids | phosphate | 455 | 240 |
| Ripple Oatmilk + Protein | phosphate | 440 | 200 |
| Ripple Plant Milk | phosphate | 440 | 240 |
| Rise Oat Milk | N/A | 0 | 0 |
| Silk Almondmilk | carbonate | 450 | 100 |
| Silk Cashewmilk | carbonate | 450 | 80 |
| Silk Coconutmilk | carbonate | 460 | 80 |
| Silk Nextmilk | carbonate | 310 | 160 |
| Silk Oatmilk | carbonate | 460 | 160 |
| Silk Organic Soymilk | carbonate | 210 | 120 |
| Silk Protein Milk | carbonate | 470 | 100 |
| Silk Soymilk | phos, carb | 300 | 120 |
| Silk Ultra Protein Milk | carbonate | 480 | 160 |
| Simple Truth Almond Milk | carbonate | 450 | 200 |
| Simple Truth Coconutmilk | carbonate | 450 | 100 |
| Simple Truth Oatmilk | carb, phos | 350 | 144 |
| Simple Truth Soymilk | carbonate | 310 | 124 |
| Simply Almond Milk | N/A | 0 | 0 |
| Simply Oat Milk | N/A | 0 | 0 |
| So Delicious Organic Coconut Milk | phos, carb | 130 | 100 |
| So Delicious Wondermilk | carb | 300 | 144 |
| So Nice Soy Milk | phosphate | 300 | 80 |
| Soy Dream | carbonate | 390 | 200 |
| Sproud Pea Protein Milk | carbonate | 325 | 200 |
| Sprouts Organic Almond Milk | phosphate | 50 | 200 |
| Sprouts Organic Oatmilk | carbonate | 260 | 120 |
| Take Two Barleymilk | carbonate | 460 | 200 |
| Tempt Hempmilk | phosphate | 390 | 200 |
| Trader Joe’s Almond Cashew & Macadamia Beverage | carbonate | 160 | 0 |
| Trader Joe’s Almond Milk | phosphate | 450 | 100 |
| Trader Joe’s Coconut Beverage | phosphate | 273 | 200 |
| Trader Joe’s Hemp Beverage | N/A | 0 | 0 |
| Trader Joe’s Oat Beverage | carb, phos | 110 | 116 |
| Trader Joe’s Soymilk | N/A | 26 | 0 |
| Uproot Oatmilk | carbonate | 200 | 64 |
| Uproot Peamilk | carbonate | 410 | 124 |
| Uproot Soymilk | carbonate | 360 | 124 |
| WestSoy Organic Soymilk | N/A | 10 | 0 |
*The vitamin D in store-bought milk is actually fortified. How much a milk producer adds via fortification (if any at all) is up to them. So this amount might vary from brand to brand.
Which Dairy-Free Milk Beverages Have the Most Calcium?
The hands-down winner, with a whopping 595 milligrams of calcium per cup is Califia Farms Protein Oat Milk. Silk Ultra Protein (soy-base) and Silk Protein (made with almond, cashew, and pea milk) take the number two and three spots, respectively.
Ripple Kids is actually in the #7 spot, with 455 milligrams of calcium per cup. I mention this as a caution, since children aged 8 and under have lower calcium needs than kids aged 9 and older.
Is Calcium Fortification as Good as Dairy Calcium?
It isn’t necessarily about the medium of calcium consumption, but more about the dynamic of how that calcium is absorbed and used in your body. This depends on the type of calcium consumed, other nutrients consumed during the day (for example, magnesium and vitamin D aid in calcium absorption), hormones, and other factors that, some of which can hinder absorption. We’ll discuss those elements soon, in our healthy bone and calcium series (see below for links). But the short answer is yes, research has found that calcium supplementation is at least as good as calcium consumption via milk.
How Do the Higher Calcium Milk Beverages Taste?
In many cases, you won’t even notice the fortification. Calcium is a mineral, so it can add a slight powdery finish to creamy milks, but it’s often seamless in manufactured brands. But see our Dairy-Free Milk Alternative Reviews section for the opinions of others! Each post has Amazon-style reviews at the bottom.
More Dairy-Free Calcium Questions Answered
- How Much Calcium Do I Need on a Dairy-Free Diet?
- The Dairy-Free Calcium Chart with Over 100 Foods
- Calcium-Rich Foods and Over 25 Everyday Ways to Enjoy Them
- How to Choose the Best Dairy-Free Calcium Supplements
For More Dairy-Free Guidance, Get Go Dairy Free!
4 Comments
Thank you! I have osteoporosis and was thinking I’d have to back to dairy I’ll check out the nondairy milks you suggested does higher fat content automatically go w the higher calcium levels. A lot of nondairy foods have super high fat content.
There are definitely quite a few options in the above with lower fat content. A lot of the non-dairy brands try to mimic 2% dairy nutrient amounts, so they add fat along with the vitamins and minerals. But several of the products above have just 0 to 3 grams of fat per serving.
Thanks for the table, but I would also like to see a protein comparison. Thank you.
This is a calcium and bone health post. If we get the opportunity in the future, we’ll do a protein one. In general, the ones with “protein” in the title are your best high protein options. Soymilks and peamilks all have relatively high protein. If they aren’t a “protein” specific option, the almond, coconut, rice, and oatmilks will all typically be quite low in protein.