The foods we eat contain a variety of vitamins, minerals, and other important nutrients that help keep our bodies healthy. We need to get enough of two nutrients in particular, calcium and vitamin D, to help keep our bones strong.

1. What does calcium do for our bones?
Calcium is a mineral. Our bodies contain many different minerals, such as iron and magnesium, but the most abundant mineral in the body is calcium.

Also, our bones are partly made of calcium salts (mixtures of calcium with other minerals), especially calcium phosphate. Calcium phosphate hardens and strengthens bone.

Our bodies cannot make calcium. We need to get calcium from foods and drinks, and supplements when needed, to build strong bones and teeth and to keep them healthy. Healthy bones are less likely to break if we fall.

2. What happens to our bones without enough calcium?
Calcium does more than build strong bone. It also helps our muscles, heart, and nerves work properly.

If we do not get enough calcium in our diets, our body takes the calcium we need from our bones. Over time, this process makes bones weaker and raises the risk of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a disease that makes bones weak and brittle, and people with osteoporosis have a higher risk of fractures (broken bones).

3. How much calcium do we need?
The amount of calcium each person needs depends on their age and sex. Table 1 lists how much calcium people need every day to keep their bones strong and healthy.

Source: National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements

4. What does vitamin D do for our bones?
Vitamin D promotes bone health in these ways:
+ Helps absorb the calcium we get from food.
+ Along with calcium, helps protects older adults from osteoporosis.
+ Promotes healthy functioning of our muscles and immune system. We need strong muscles to help us balance and reduce the risk of falling and breaking bones.

5. What happens to our bones without enough vitamin D?
When children do not get enough vitamin D, they can develop rickets. With rickets, the bones are soft, weak, deformed, and painful.
In adults, too little vitamin D over time can cause:
• Osteomalacia, a painful condition that makes bones and muscles weak and more likely to bend and break.
• Osteoporosis.

6. How much vitamin D do we need?