Metal and postnatal bone development: reviewing the role of mechanical stimuli and nutrition

Fetal and postnatal bone development is by tradition viewed as a process of bone mineral accreion or an increase in bone mass. Accordingly, previous approaches to bone development in eonatology and early childhood have emphasized the determinants of peak bone mass and their relationship to osteopenia, osteoporosis and fractures in later life. This suggests that the neonatal period and early childhood is an important period for bone mineral accrual, and that weak bone mass may be correlated with subsequent skeletal health. Nevertheless, describing fetal and postnatal bone development just in terms of changes in mass or density means looking at ones as if they were amorphous heaps of calcium and phosphorus. In reality, of course, bones re complex three-dimensional structures. It is therefore important to create conditions that stimulate bones to become more stable. We suggest that functional bone physiology can based to explain fetal and postnatal bone development and to devise strategies for improved one development in both premature infants and neonates.