Do Older Adults Need More Protein?

5 min

Protein’s role in our bodies is to build or maintain muscle mass, which takes on new importance as we get older, since muscle loss is a natural part of the aging process. The simple answer is that yes, we need to be sure we get enough protein as we get older. Just how much, and where it comes from, is a bit more complicated.

Adults of all ages need to consume the three macronutrients (protein, fat, and carbohydrates) every day, along with a variety of micronutrients. How much protein you need is based on such factors as height and weight, activity level, sex, and age. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) of protein for adults of any age is 0.8 grams per kilograms of body weight, which would amount to 62 grams (a little more than two ounces) for a 170-pound person.

Think of that as the minimum amount of protein most adults need to avoid loss of muscle mass. The Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range (AMDR) says that protein should make up 10% to 35% of the calories an adult consumes each day. That’s a very wide range — if your daily total is 2,000 calories, you’d consume between 200 and 700 of those calories from protein, which is 50 grams (1.8 ounces) to 175 grams (more than 6 ounces). Athletes or other extremely active people are the ones most likely to need the higher end of that range.

Some research suggests that adults over 65 need more than the RDA to prevent sarcopenia, which is the loss of muscle mass and function seen in aging. At that age, a typical 170-pound adult may need about 93 grams (nearly 3.3 ounces) per day to prevent the condition — more if they are extremely active.

In one study, more than 11,000 adults over 50 were monitored for 10 years; those who did not consume the recommended amount of protein all had more functional limitations than those who did. In the oldest group, those over 70 had significantly less grip strength if they did not consume the recommended amount of protein.

Another study looked at more than 100 adults between age 67 and 73 who did not typically get enough protein in their diet; half of them received 31 grams a day of supplementation while the other half received a placebo. After a 12-week period, the group that consumed the additional protein showed improved physical performance, an increase in lean body mass, and a reduction in fat mass when compared with the placebo group.

Protein intake seems even more important in advanced age. In Japan, as part of the Kawasaki Aging and Wellbeing Project, more than 800 healthy people between 85 and 89 were divided into four groups based on protein intake. Those in the highest protein group, who consumed more than 19 percent of their calories from protein, had a lower risk of death from any reason over the three-plus years of the study.

The good news is that you may not have to worry about when you get your protein over the course of a day. In one small study, researchers randomly divided 20 healthy adults between the ages of 52 and 75 into four groups for a four-day experiment. Two of the four groups got the required daily amount of protein, but one received one-third of the protein per meal while the other group was given 15 percent at breakfast, 20 percent at lunch and 65 percent at dinner. The participants in the other two groups were provided twice the amount of protein, also divided between meals either evenly or unevenly. In the end, those who received the higher protein amount had a better whole-body net protein balance, regardless of when the total protein was consumed.

One controversial study from 2014 concluded that eating a lot of protein (at least 20 percent of daily calories) between the ages of 50 and 65 almost doubled the risk of dying and quadrupled the chances of dying of cancer. After age 65, however, that same high protein consumption became far less of a threat and was, in fact, associated with reduced susceptibility to disease. The study’s methodology and conclusions have questioned, and it’s important to note that the protein responsible for the risk of early death in this study was from animal sources – meat, milk and cheese – rather than vegetable protein. I have long been a proponent of reducing the amount of animal products in the daily diet. There are many plant proteins that I recommend instead.

The one caution I would add is that excess protein can be problematic for those with kidney conditions. If you have chronic kidney disease (CKD), please consult a nutritionist or your health care provider to find a healthy balance of nutrients in your diet.

You may want to try the DRI calculator provided by the USDA. This calculator will estimate your daily nutrient recommendations based on the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) as established by the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Note that the calculator does not account for health conditions or other variables that may affect your individual needs.

Andrew Weil, M.D.

Sources
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Kurata H, Meguro S, Abe Y, Sasaki T, Asakura K, Arai Y, Itoh H. “Dietary protein intake and all-cause mortality: results from The Kawasaki Aging and Wellbeing Project.” BMC Geriatr. 2023 Aug 9;23(1):479. doi: 10.1186/s12877-023-04173-w. PMID: 37558986; PMCID: PMC10413626. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih/37558986/

Originally published August 2016. Updated January 2025.