Protein Requirements Increase With Age

Ray has written on the dangers of chronic protein deficiency and often recommends at least 80g of protein a day. In younger people (20-30 years old) the anabolic effects of protein peak at about 20g of protein per meal. It looks like in older people the requirement is higher. I have known about this "efficiency" issue for some time based on my own research and discussion with older bodybuilders. I have seen several studies that seem to confirm the efficiency/age issue and this latest study gives some specific recommendations.
Long story short - if you are under 30 years of age then the anabolic effects of protein will probably reach a peak at 20g per meal and anything more than that will get wasted as ammonia byproducts and probably make you feel tired. The study claims that the optimal protein intake for the crowd under 30 is 0.25g/kg of protein. If we assume 3-4 meals per day this gets close to the Peat recommendation of 80g a day.
On the other hand, if you are in your 70-ies then you need 0.4g/kg of protein per meal for optimal anabolic effects. If we again assume 3-4 meals a day then this means older people will probably need to aim for higher than 80g of protein a day to achieve the same effects as the younger crowd.
Obviously, everybody needs to experiment and find what works for them. However, it helps to keep in mind that as the organism ages or is under stress, the protein requirements increase and some people will likely need substantially more than 80g of protein a day.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25056502

haidut said:

The study claims that the optimal protein intake for the crowd under 30 is 0.25g/kg of protein. ...
On the other hand, if you are in your 70-ies then you need 0.4g/kg of protein per meal for optimal anabolic effects.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25056502

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How does this compare with the studies you've posted suggesting that we may need a daily total of 3g/kg of bodyweight, for building muscle? 8-12 meals of .25-.4g protein each?

visionofstrength said:

haidut said:

The study claims that the optimal protein intake for the crowd under 30 is 0.25g/kg of protein. ...
On the other hand, if you are in your 70-ies then you need 0.4g/kg of protein per meal for optimal anabolic effects.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25056502

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How does this compare with the studies you've posted suggesting that we may need a daily total of 3g/kg of bodyweight, for building muscle? 8-12 meals of .25-.4g protein each?

Click to expand...

The studies I posted on the higher doses were usually done with specific purpose - like weight/fat loss or chronic wasting conditions. It looks like this study was done to find out the optimal dose for healthy people. I think it would be individual for everybody but the consensus seems to be that as one ages one needs more protein to achieve the same anabolic effects as younger people. Of course, if you eat like Peat and don't age then you probably only need 80g a day

haidut said:

visionofstrength said:

haidut said:

The study claims that the optimal protein intake for the crowd under 30 is 0.25g/kg of protein. ...
On the other hand, if you are in your 70-ies then you need 0.4g/kg of protein per meal for optimal anabolic effects.
...
I think it would be individual for everybody but the consensus seems to be that as one ages one needs more protein to achieve the same anabolic effects as younger people. Of course, if you eat like Peat and don't age then you probably only need 80g a day

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Yes, I think you are right. One could even criticize the study for not controlling for what is 'healthy'. If a lot of Peat's had participated in the study, the results might be different - maybe the younger men would need more protein. If they had controlled for TSH maybe, the results might different.

I really haven't checked how much my daily protein intake is, but I had been content thinking less protein intake would be better as one gets older. The kidneys' filtering rate goes down, and with more protein (especially with meat), there is more acidity that the kidneys (and the liver) have to work at balancing.

I suppose this is where older people would have to increase the intake of foods with high gelatin content, instead of eating a lot of lean meat. There is less of the sulfur-based amino acids with cuts rich in gelatin (and collagen). Cuts high in cysteine, methionine, and tryptophan are more acidic.

Ray has said that for elderly people, the nutritional intake could involve having as much as 50% of the protein intake compose of gelatin, if I'm not mistaken. Glycine is the largest component of gelatin, and glycine has many protective roles in the body.

I wonder what you make of Dr Peat reducing his protein intake @haidut ?