Vitamins

Vitamins and minerals are substances that are found in foods we eat. Your body needs them to work properly, so you grow and develop just like you should. When it comes to vitamins, each one has a special role to play. For example: Vitamin D in milk helps your bones.Vitamin A in carrots helps you see at night.Vitamin C in oranges helps your body heal if you get a cut.B vitamins in leafy green vegetables help your body make protein and energy. V

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Minerals

Just like vitamins, minerals help your body grow, develop, and stay healthy. The body uses minerals to perform many different functions - from building strong bones to transmitting nerve impulses. Some minerals are even used to make hormones or maintain a normal heartbeat. Macro and Trace There are two kinds of minerals: macrominerals and trace minerals. Macro means "large" in Greek (and your body needs larger amounts of macrominerals than tra

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Cancer

Cancer is a scary word. Almost everyone knows someone who got very sick or died from cancer. Most of the time, cancer affects older people. Not many kids get cancer, but when they do, very often it can be treated and cured.What Is Cancer? Cancer is actually a group of many related diseases that all have to do with cells. Cells are the very small units that make up all living things, including the human body. There are billions of cells in each

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Scoliosis

Your spine, or backbone, helps hold your body upright. Without it, you couldn't walk, run, or play sports. If you look at yourself sideways in the mirror or look at a friend from the side, you'll notice that the back isn't flat like a piece of board. Instead, it curves in and out between your neck and lower back. Despite that gentle curve, a healthy spine appears to run straight down the middle of the back. The trouble for someone with scoliosis

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Hemophilia

Hemophilia (say: hee-muh-fih-lee-uh) is a genetic disorder in which a person's blood does not clot properly. "Hemo" means blood and "philia" means a tendency toward. A person who has hemophilia has a tendency to bleed excessively. Think of the last time you had a cut or scrape. When the bleeding stops on its own, you're seeing clotting in action. A Bit About Blood If your blood is clotting normally, your body naturally protects itself. Platel

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Mental retardation

There's a kid at school who seems different. You've heard people say he has mental retardation (say: ree-tar-day-shun), but what does that mean?What Is Mental Retardation? To understand mental retardation, it helps to know what intelligence (say: in-tel-uh-jents) is. Intelligence is a way of describing someone's ability to think, learn, and solve problems. Mental retardation means that someone has lower than average intelligence. The person ma

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Cleft Lip and Palate

Open your mouth!. Do you see the seam on the roof of your mouth? Sometimes you can feel it with your finger or your tongue. That's where your palate grew together in the middle. You can see that the palate goes from behind your front teeth all the way to the back of your mouth. The word cleft means a gap or split between two things. A cleft lip is a split in the upper lip. This can happen on one or two sides of the lip, creating a wider openi

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Hives

After eating some big, red strawberries, you decide to walk to your friend's house. Just as you're turning the corner, you notice reddish bumps and patches on your arms and chest. What are these itchy welts or blotches on your skin? Should you turn around and head home? What Are Hives? Hives are pink or red bumps or slightly raised patches of skin. Sometimes, they have a pale center. Hives usually itch, but they also can burn or sting. Hives

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Legs and Feet Problems

Where would you be without your legs and feet? They do a lot to get you where you need to go. But sometimes, kids have problems with these important body parts. Their legs and feet might look different or might not work exactly the way they should. The good news is that these problems usually aren't serious. They either go away on their own or the kid learns to handle them by using stuff like special shoe inserts. Pigeon Toes Pigeon toes, or i

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Genes

Genes (say: jeenz), that's what they're talking about. Genes are the things that determine physical traits — how we look — and lots of other stuff about us. They carry information that helps make you who you are: curly or straight hair, long or short legs, even how you might smile or laugh, are all passed through generations of your family in genes. Keep reading to learn more about genes and how they work. What Is a Gene? Each cell in the huma

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Bedwetting

Things that are cool to talk about with friends: your new computer gamesgoing to the movieswhat to do this weekend Things that you probably don't talk about with friends: how you cry when you watch the movie Barbiethe day you accidentally wore your underwear inside outhow you wet the bed when you sleep Millions of kids and teenagers from every part of the world wet the bed every single night. It's so common that there are probably other kids

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Blood

You know what blood is — it’s that red stuff that oozes out if you get a paper cut. The average person has about 1 to 1-½ gallons (4-6 liters) of it. But what is blood, really, and where does it come from? How Does the Body Make Blood? It’s not made in a kitchen, but blood has ingredients, just like a recipe. To make blood, your body needs to mix: red blood cells, which carry oxygen throughout the bodywhite blood cells, which fight infections

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