Osteoporosis: primary prevention and intervention strategies for women at risk

The growth and development of the skeleton begins in early fetal life and continues for nearly two decades in a series of well-defined events. Minerals--particularly calcium but also carbonate, magnesium, sodium, and fluoride--play vital structural and metabolic roles in bone growth and development. However, bone formation also is encouraged by hormones, such as estrogen, and by weight-bearing activity. Living bone is never metabolically at rest; its matrix and mineral stores are being remodeled constantly along the lines of mechanical stress.