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Healthy Bones: Hard Facts
Skeleton

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Or, click here to see a non-Flash version of the skeleton terms.

Recipes for Healthy Bones
• Stir 1300 milligrams of calcium into your body everyday.
• Mix life up a bit by doing weight-bearing physical activities every day.

OK, here's the info.
You have more than 200 bones. They hold up your body, and, along with your muscles, keep you moving. Basically, without bones you'd just be one big blob!

So, what are these bones made of? They are mostly collagen, a protein that is like a soft framework for bones, and calcium phosphate, a mineral that makes bones hard. Collagen and calcium work together to make bones strong and flexible. All together, the bones in your body form your skeleton. Your skeleton is very strong, but also very light. Wanna know a cool fact? Most of your body's calcium is contained in your bones and teeth!! (The rest is in your blood — weird, huh?)
Read Carla's Top 5 Reasons to Have Powerful Bones!

Besides calcium and collagen, bones also contain water, minerals, and cells that grow and change. Even though bones you've seen may have looked all dried up (think skeletons in movies or museums), yours really live and grow inside you. Bones are always growing and they're strongest by your 20s.

When you're a baby, you have more than 300 bones, but by the time you're an adult you'll only have 206 because some of your bones join together as you grow. To be able to grow, strong bones need lots of calcium and weight-bearing physical activity. Click here to find out how calcium and weight-bearing physical activity make bones strong.

Click here for a printable version of this page.
Powerful Bones. Powerful Girls. The National Bone Health Campaign.

*Links to non-Federal organizations are provided solely as a service to our users. Links do not constitute an endorsement of any organization by the Office on Women's Health or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. The Office on Women's Health is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at this link.