Minimal trauma fractures in bone diseases are the result of bone fragility. Rather than considering bone fragility as being the result of a reduced amount of bone, we recognize that bone fragility is the result of changes in the material and structural properties of bone. A better understanding of the contribution of each component of the material composition and structure, and how these interact to maintain whole bone strength is obtained by the study of metabolic bone diseases. Disorders of collagen (osteogenesis imperfecta and Paget's disease of bone), of mineral content, composition and distribution (fluorosis and osteomalacia), disease of high remodelling (postmenopausal osteoporosis, hyperparathyroidism, hyperthyroidism, low remodelling (osteopetrosis, pycnodysostosis), and other diseases (idiopathic male osteoporosis, corticosteroid-induced osteoporosis) produce abnormalities in the material composition and structure that lead to bone fragility. Observations in patients and in animal models provide insights on the biomechanical consequences of these illnesses and the nature of the qualities of bone that determine its strength.