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About this tool
Daily protein target for adults over 60 using the PROT-AGE and ESPEN bands, with the per-meal dose ageing muscle needs.
This calculator gives an adult aged 60 or over a daily protein target in grams, using the bands agreed by the PROT-AGE Study Group (JAMDA 2013) and the ESPEN expert group (Clinical Nutrition 2014): 1.0-1.2 g per kg of body weight for healthy older adults, 1.2-1.5 g/kg with chronic illness, and up to 2.0 g/kg during acute illness, injury or malnutrition. It also splits that total across your meals, because ageing muscle responds to the size of each meal rather than the daily figure alone — roughly 25-30 g of protein per meal is needed to trigger muscle protein synthesis. At a BMI of 30 or more it doses on adjusted body weight instead of actual weight, as clinical practice does.
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Enter the values you already know.
Fine-tune the options to match your scenario.
Read the result and use it in your planning or reporting.
The 0.8 g/kg RDA was set for healthy young adults; PROT-AGE and ESPEN both put older adults well above it.
Shows whether each meal clears the 25-30 g threshold that older muscle needs to respond.
Uses ABW = IBW + 0.25 x (actual - IBW) so the target is not inflated by body fat.
For a healthy older adult, 1.0-1.2 g per kilogram of body weight — about 70-84 g a day at 70 kg. That is 25-50% above the 0.8 g/kg adult RDA, because ageing muscle is less responsive to protein. Chronic illness raises it to 1.2-1.5 g/kg and acute illness or injury can push it to 2.0 g/kg.
Anabolic resistance. The same dose of protein produces a smaller muscle-building response in older muscle, so a bigger dose is needed to reach the same effect. Combined with reduced appetite and less physical activity, this is a main driver of sarcopenia, the progressive loss of muscle mass and strength with age.
About 25-30 g of high-quality protein per meal, carrying roughly 2.5-2.8 g of leucine, which is the dose commonly cited as needed to maximally stimulate muscle protein synthesis in older adults. Moore and colleagues put it at about 0.40 g per kg of body weight per meal for older people, against 0.24 g/kg for young adults. Spreading protein evenly beats loading it all at dinner.
In people with normal kidney function, intakes in the 1.0-1.5 g/kg range have not been shown to cause kidney damage, and both PROT-AGE and ESPEN recommend them for older adults. Severe kidney disease is different: with an eGFR below 30 and not on dialysis, protein is deliberately restricted and the target must be set by a kidney specialist. If you have any kidney condition, discuss protein with your doctor before changing your diet.
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