Protein in later life
The population reference value is set for adequacy, not for holding muscle at seventy. Most expert groups recommend more than it.
goodWell supported, with the usual caveats about effect size.Revised 28 Aug 2026
Spread across meals rather than concentrated at dinner.Photograph: Brooke Lark / Unsplash
Definition
The question here is not how much protein prevents deficiency — almost nobody in Europe is protein-deficient — but how much supports the retention of muscle mass and function in the decades where both are being lost by default.
The reference value, and why it is not the answer
EFSA’s population reference intake for adults is 0.83 g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. That figure is derived from nitrogen balance and is designed to meet the requirements of nearly everyone in a healthy adult population.
It was not derived to answer the muscle question, and it does not account for two things that change with age:
- Anabolic resistance. Older muscle responds less to a given dose of protein, so the amount per meal needed to trigger muscle protein synthesis is higher than in a young adult.
- Illness and hospitalisation. Periods of bed rest cause rapid muscle loss from which older adults recover slowly, and protein needs rise during them.
Expert groups working specifically on sarcopenia and older adults therefore generally recommend intakes above the population reference value — typically in the region of 1.0–1.2 g/kg/day for healthy older adults, and higher with acute illness.
The distribution point
Total daily intake matters, and so does how it is spread. A European eating pattern often loads most protein into one evening meal, leaving breakfast and lunch well below the per-meal dose that stimulates synthesis. Spreading intake across three or four meals, each containing a meaningful amount, is the adjustment most often recommended and the one most people can make without changing what they eat, only when.
The part that is not protein
Protein without loading does comparatively little. Resistance training is the signal; protein is the substrate. In trials, the combination consistently outperforms either alone, and protein supplementation in sedentary older adults produces modest results.
Eat the protein because you are training. Training because you ate the protein is the wrong way round.
Cautions
Higher protein intakes are not appropriate for everyone: impaired kidney function changes the calculation entirely, and that is a clinical decision. The claim that high protein damages healthy kidneys has not been supported; the claim that it is safe in established kidney disease has not been made.