Keeping Your Bones Healthy “BUILDING BONES”

Building Bones

What Are Bones?  Bones fit together to make your skeleton.  The skeleton gives the body shape and structure.  With the help of muscles, the skeleton helps you move.

What are bones? It is important to keep bones strong throughout life.It is important to keep bones strong throughout life. Building strong bones begins in childhood. Bones are rapidly growing at this stage in life, and need activity and nutrients to lay a strong foundation.Building strong bones begins in childhood. Bones are rapidly growing at this stage in life, and need activity and nutrients to lay a strong foundation. Bones continue to grow, but they reach their strongest possible point in your 20s.Bones continue to grow, but they reach their strongest possible point in your 20s.

What are bones?  Bone is made of:  a protein called collagen that lays a soft framework  the mineral calcium phosphate that makes the bone hard  other minerals  water  cells

Strong bones There are two main ways to make bones stronger: Weight-bearing physical activity & Eating foods with calcium and Vitamin D

What is weight-bearing physical activity?  Weight-bearing means you are on your feet, or your body is working against gravity.  The actions of these activities stimulate bones to make more tissue, increasing bone strength.

What is weight-bearing physical activity? Some Activities That Are Weight-bearing Jumping rope RunningSoccerDancingKarateHikingTennis

What is weight-bearing physical activity? Some Activities That Are Not Weight-bearingBikingSwimming Riding a Scooter Remember all physical activity is good for you, weight-bearing and non weight-bearing! Just be sure to add in some weight-bearing activities to your normal routine for bone health.

Calcium and Vitamin D  The calcium you get from foods help strengthen bones.  Vitamin D helps the body to absorb the calcium you eat so that it can be used.  Vitamin D can be found in the foods you eat.  Our body can also make Vitamin D when the skin is exposed to sunlight.

How Calcium Works  The calcium used to harden or strengthen bone comes from our blood and the calcium in our blood comes from the foods we eat.  Remember the protein collagen lays a soft framework in the bone.  Once the collagen is laid, calcium from the blood fills in the framework, and makes the bone hard.

Calcium-rich Foods  Low fat dairy products  Yogurt  Cheese  Milk  Items made with milk like pudding  Foods “fortified” with Calcium  Orange juice  Soy milk  Cereal

How Much Calcium  Calcium in food is measured in milligrams.  You can determine how much calcium you need in milligrams, or in servings of calcium- rich foods. Vitamin D is found in a lot of same foods as calcium such a milk.

How Much Calcium Each Day Age (years) Milligrams of Calcium Servings of Calcium-rich foods 4 to to 18 1,3003 This sounds like a lot, but think about how big your skeleton is! That calcium has a lot of work to do!

Calcium in Foods  1 cup of plain, fat-free yogurt – 300 mg  1 ½ ounces of cheddar cheese – 305 mg  1 cup of fat free or low fat milk – 300 mg  6 ounces of orange juice with calcium – 200 to 250 mg (varies)  1 cup of a soy beverage with added calcium – about 300 mg (varies)  1 ounce of mozzarella cheese – 207 mg  ½ cup pudding made with milk – 147 to 160 mg  1 slice of cheese pizza – 100 mg

Healthy Bones and Teeth  Some of the things we need to do for strong bones helps us to have healthy teeth and gums (oral health) too.  A balanced diet is important for good oral health.  An excellent source of information for a healthy diet can be found at  Lack of calcium in our diet might be related to problems with oral health such as gum disease and tooth loss.

Oral Health  Be sure to go to the dentist regularly.  Your dentist can give you all the information you need for good oral health.

So what if I don’t have strong bones?  The calcium you eat, and physical activity you do, now, can keep your bones healthy and strong for the future.  When there isn’t enough calcium in your blood to help build bones your bones begin to lose minerals.  This can lead to weak bones that break easily when you are older. Strong bones can keep you healthy and active throughout your lifetime!

So what do you know about building bones? True or False?  Running is a weight-bearing activity.  Riding a bike is a weight-bearing activity.  Doing weight-bearing activity and eating calcium- rich foods are two ways you can build strong bones.  Youth aged 9 to 18 need about 500mg of calcium each day.  Milk yogurt and cheese are good sources of calcium.

Sources:  American Dental Association,  American Dietetic Association:  Center for Disease Control and Prevention:  Center for Disease Control and Prevention: The National Bone Health Campaign Powerful Bones. Powerful Girls. Bone Up: Hard Facts, Bone Up: How to Make Strong Bones, Staying Strong: Fitness Fun, Staying Strong: Calcium-Where To Get It available online at  National Institutes of Health: National Institute of Child Health & Human Development – Why Milk Matters Now for Children and Teens, available at  United States Department of Health and Human Services, Bone Health and Osteoporosis: A Report of the Surgeon General (2004) available online at: This presentation adapted with permission from the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension HEEL Program, Get Moving Kentucky! Youth Health Lesson Series