Requirements for Bone Health

It is never too early to start being concerned about bone health. Childhood - the peak bone producing years - is the time to start teaching your children about bone health. You can work with them to develop good diet and exercise habits, which will help them to have strong, healthy bones throughout their lives. And, a poor diet and not enough physical activity during the adolescent years (age 9 to 18) can result in weaker bones in adulthood. This increases the risk for osteoporosis, and can affect the body's ability to heal properly after an injury. By making sure they get enough calcium, as well as weight bearing physical activity, girls can develop strong bones and reduce their risk for osteoporosis later in life.

To make bones strong and to keep them strong, the body needs both calcium and weight bearing physical activity. It's not enough to do one or the other to make bones strong, it takes two!

• Calcium - helps bones to develop properly. When the body makes new bone tissue, it first lays down a framework of a protein called collagen. Then, calcium from the blood spreads throughout the collagen framework. The hard crystals of calcium fill in all the nooks and crannies of the framework. Calcium and collagen work together to make bones strong and flexible.
  
  Calcium is also needed for many other activities within the body such as neural communication (the way your nerves and brain send signals to each other) and heart and lung functions. If the body doesn't get enough calcium from foods and drinks, it can take it from bones, which can make bones weaker.

• Physical activity - just as a muscle gets stronger and bigger the more you use it, a bone becomes stronger and denser when you exercise. Bones are living tissue. Weight bearing physical activity causes new bone tissue to form, making bones even stronger. It also makes muscles stronger, and muscles push and tug against bones, making bones even stronger. And, it improves coordination, which makes falls less likely, keeping bones safer from breaks.