from American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
As people get older, they need fewer calories so they eat less food, including less protein. Purdue University nutrition professor Wayne Campbell says a dramatic change in eating habits is needed in elderly people to increase the amount of protein they consume to curb the natural muscle loss that comes with age. That muscle loss results in weakness and instability that affect daily physical abilities and increase an elderly person’s risk of falling. His study, using a new noninvasive test to evaluate protein amounts suggests the current nutrition guidelines for elderly people are not adequate, since they apply to everyone from the age of nineteen. Professor Campbell reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that elderly women could benefit from nearly one-third more daily protein.