Protein and Aging: How Much Protein Do Older Adults Need?

Maybe—but “more” isn’t really the most useful way to think about it.

A better question is whether you’re getting enough protein now.

If most of your meals already include foods like eggs, yogurt, fish, chicken, tofu, beans, or lentils, you may not need to change much. But if breakfast is mostly toast and coffee, lunch is light, and nearly all of your protein shows up at dinner, it may be worth paying a little more attention.

For healthy adults over 65, some expert groups suggest roughly 1.0 to 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. That’s a useful reference point, not a target everyone needs to hit exactly. Medical conditions—particularly kidney disease and certain other illnesses—can change what’s appropriate for an individual.

And protein is only part of the equation. Staying physically active, especially with some form of resistance exercise, matters if the goal is to maintain muscle and strength.

So you probably don’t need to start buying protein shakes or turning every snack into a high-protein snack.

Start with your regular meals. Make sure protein actually has a place in them. Keep moving. Lift something regularly if you can.

The point isn’t to eat like a bodybuilder as you get older.

It’s to give your body a better chance of staying strong enough to keep doing the things you want to do.

What could that look like in a normal day?

You don't have to plan every meal around protein. It can be as simple as making sure there's a decent source of it somewhere on the plate.

A day might look something like this:

Breakfast: Greek yogurt with berries, walnuts, and oatmeal

Lunch: A turkey and avocado sandwich on whole-grain bread with a side salad

Snack: An apple with peanut butter, or cottage cheese with fruit

Dinner: Salmon with roasted vegetables and quinoa

Prefer more plant-based meals? Swap the turkey for hummus and chickpeas, and the salmon for tofu, tempeh, beans, or lentils.

The exact foods aren't particularly important. The point is that protein shows up throughout the day without every meal turning into a “high-protein” meal.

And there's another benefit to eating this way: you're not getting protein in isolation. Yogurt brings calcium, beans and lentils bring fiber, fish can provide omega-3 fats, and nuts and whole grains contribute other nutrients that matter as we get older.

That's a much more useful way to think about protein than simply asking which food has the biggest number on the label.

So you probably don’t need to start buying protein shakes or turning every snack into a high-protein snack.

Start with your regular meals. Make sure protein actually has a place in them. Keep moving, and include some resistance exercise if you can.

The point isn’t to eat like a bodybuilder as you get older. It’s to give your body a better chance of staying strong enough to keep doing the things you want to do.

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