{"id":18725,"date":"2022-02-03T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2022-02-03T14:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=18725"},"modified":"2022-01-25T10:39:50","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T15:39:50","slug":"protein-for-older-adults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2022\/02\/03\/protein-for-older-adults\/","title":{"rendered":"Protein for Older Adults"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"208\" height=\"227\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/n797474.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18726\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Vegetarian Resource Group member wrote to us with concerns\nabout getting enough protein because they weren\u2019t able to tolerate more than\nhalf a cup of beans a day. They had heard that older adults need more protein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is reliable research that suggests that older adults\nneed slightly more protein than younger adults do. A somewhat higher protein\nintake, especially when combined with resistance training can build muscle in\nolder adults. This increased muscle can help to offset the muscle loss that is\na part of the aging process. Muscle loss can increase the risk of falls and\nkeep older people from doing the tasks they\u2019d like to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How much more protein are we suggesting? Get out your\ncalculator! It seems like between 0.36 and 0.57\ngrams of protein per pound of body weight along with resistance training can\nlead to a larger muscle mass in older people (1).&nbsp; In practical terms, if you weigh 120 pounds,\nthese recommendations would suggest that you get 43 to 68 grams of protein a\nday; for someone weighing 150 pounds the recommendations suggest 54 to 86 grams\nof protein.&nbsp; You can use this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/nutrition\/protein.php\">helpful\ntable<\/a> to see how much\nprotein is in many vegan foods (scroll down to table 2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some experts\n(2,3) suggest that spreading out protein over the entire day, instead of eating\none or two higher protein meals may further support muscle building. So, for\nexample, if you calculated that you needed 86 grams of protein per day, you\nmight try to eat around 30 grams of protein at each of 3 meals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some\nsample meals that have around 30 grams of protein and don\u2019t rely heavily on\nbeans since the person who originally asked the question didn\u2019t want bean-heavy\nmeals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>A toasted bagel\nwith 2 Tablespoons of soy nut butter with 8 ounces of pea protein milk and a\nbanana <\/li><li>Strawberry\nSmoothie made with 8 ounces of oat milk,&nbsp;\n2 scoops of rice protein powder, a Tablespoon of nut butter, and \u00bd cup\nof strawberries<\/li><li>Scrambled tofu\nwith toast:&nbsp; 6 ounces of extra firm tofu\nscrambled with half a cup each of onions and peppers,&nbsp; and 2 Tablespoons of nutritional yeast; 2\nslices of whole grain toast <\/li><li>2 burritos made\nwith \u00bd cup of cooked lentils, 1 cup of cooked quinoa and 1 cup of steamed chopped\nbroccoli <\/li><li>Veggie burger on\na bun with a cup of &nbsp;sweet potato oven\nfries, peas and a cup of steamed green peas<\/li><li>Chili made with \u00bd\ncup of prepared TVP and \u00bd cup of beans served over 1 cup of cooked quinoa; and\na corn muffin <\/li><li>Stir-fry with 3 ounces\nof saut\u00e9ed seitan strips, \u00bd cup each cauliflower and carrots, and 3 Tablespoons\nof slivered almonds served over 3\/4 cup of cooked brown rice <\/li><li>Tempeh (\u00be cup) in\nbarbecue sauce served over a medium baked potato with 1 cup of saut\u00e9ed &nbsp;collards <\/li><li>Tofu in peanut\nsauce (6 ounces of extra-firm tofu and 3 Tablespoons of peanut sauce) mixed\nwith a cup of steamed kale and served over \u00be cup of whole-wheat pasta<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, you\nmay need more (or less) protein than in these examples and don\u2019t want to always\ncalculate the protein content of every meal. You can simply try to eat\nconcentrated protein sources such as soy products, seitan, beans, quinoa, nuts,\nand nut butters throughout the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To learn more\nabout nutrition and other issues for older adults see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/seniors\/\">Resources for Seniors<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>References<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1. Haub MD, Wells AM, Tarnopolsky MA, Campbell WW. Effect of\nprotein source on resistive-training-induced changes in body composition and\nmuscle size in older men. <em>Am J Clin Nutr<\/em>.\n2002; 76(3): 511\u2013517.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2. Farsijani S, Morais JA, Payette H, et al.\nRelation between mealtime distribution of protein intake and lean mass loss in\nfree-living older adults of the NuAge study. <em>Am J Clin Nutr<\/em> 2016;104:694\u2013703.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3. Farsijani S, Payette H, Morais JA, et al. Even\nmealtime distribution of protein intake is associated with greater muscle strength,\nbut not with 3-y physical function decline, in freeliving older adults: the\nQuebec Longitudinal Study on Nutrition as a Determinant of Successful Aging\n(NuAge study). <em>Am J Clin Nutr<\/em> 2017; 106:113\u201324.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD A Vegetarian Resource Group member wrote to us with concerns about getting enough protein because they weren\u2019t able to tolerate more than half a cup of beans a day. They had heard that older adults need more protein. There is reliable research that suggests that older adults need slightly more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18727,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18725\/revisions\/18727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}