Best Bones Forever! is a national bone health campaign that encourages girls ages 9–14 to adopt healthy habits for bone growth and osteoporosis prevention. The campaign was created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health (OWH) in 2009. The campaign uses popular language, bright colors and images, and energetic messages to express a focus on fun and friendship. Best Bones Forever! aims to improve girls’ bone health behaviors, which include eating foods with calcium and vitamin D and participating in regular physical activity.
In 2014, OWH concluded its work on the Best Bones Forever! campaign and transferred leadership to American Bone Health, a nonprofit organization that had been a longtime partner of the campaign.
Bone Health
By the end of high school, girls develop up to 90% of their bone mass. Therefore, it is critical that girls age 9 to 18 build strong, healthy bones that will remain strong for life. Foods high in calcium and vitamin D and 60 minutes of daily bone-strengthening activity will help lower girls’ risk of developing fractures or osteoporosis later in life.
Bone Healthy Foods
Calcium: Girls ages 9 to 18 need 1,300 milligrams (mg) of calcium every day. One serving of low-fat or fat-free milk (1 cup) has about 300 mg. Other foods with calcium include calcium-fortified orange juice (500mg), low-fat or fat-free yogurt (up to 450 mg), cheese, fortified cereals, broccoli, and almonds. Vitamin D: In addition to calcium, adolescents need 600 international units (IU) of vitamin D a day. The body needs vitamin D in order to absorb calcium. Check labels: Reading the Nutrition Facts Panel (otherwise known as the food label) on a package can reveal how healthy or unhealthy a food item is. Adding Up the Calcium: Nutrition Facts labels don't show how many milligrams of calcium are in a food item. Instead, they show the amount of calcium in a food as a percentage of the Daily Value (written as %Daily Value or %DV). To figure out milligrams on a food label, look at % Daily Value for calcium, and then add 0 to the end of that number. For example, girls need 130% DV for calcium every day. 130% Daily Value is the same amount as 1,300 milligrams of calcium. Note: This calculation works only for calcium, not for other nutrients on the food label. Calcium Calculator: The Best Bones Forever! website offers a calcium calculator to help girls understand and increase their daily calcium intake.
Physical Activity
Girls between the ages of 9 and 18 need 60 minutes of physical activity a day, including bone-strengthening activities at least three times a week such as running, jumping, hiking, playing soccer, and dancing.
Activity levels decrease as girls enter their teenage years. Encouraging girls to adopt physical activity as a lifelong habit or lifestyle may help them remain active throughout life.
Campaign Highlights
The Let's Dance Contest: In 2011, to encourage girls to get active, Best Bones Forever! teamed up with teen recording pop group Savvy to launch a national dance contest for girls between the ages of 9 and 18. To enter, girls were required to choreograph a 70-second dance to one of Savvy's songs and upload it to the contest website. Submissions were judged based on creativity, how well they represented Best Bones Forever!, how well they moved all the bones in their bodies, and for how well they worked as a team. Weekly prizes were awarded, and the grand prize was a trip to Los Angeles to appear in a Savvy music video.