Each bone plays many roles within the body. They provide structure, protection, anchor our muscles and store calcium. Whilst its important to build strong and healthy bones during childhood and adolescence, however it is still important to maintain great health as an adult as well.

Our bones are continuously changing — with new bones are made and old bones are broken down by the body and reused. When we are young, our body makes new bones faster than it breaks down old bones, which leads to increased mass in our bones. Most people reach their peak mass around age 30. After that, remodeling continues, but you lose slightly more bone mass than you gain.

Osteoporosis is a condition that causes bones to become weak and brittle. Depending on how much bone mass you attain by the time you reach age 30 and how rapidly you lose it after that. The higher your peak bone mass, the more bone you have “in the bank” and the less likely you are to develop osteoporosis as you age.