Research

Mixed

Master athletes (>35 years) do not exhibit the age-related anabolic resistance seen in sedentary older adults and therefore have protein requirements similar to young athletes.

If you are a Master athlete (over 35) training regularly, you likely do not need higher protein doses than when you were younger. Aim for ~0.3g/kg of high-quality protein per meal, spread across 4-5 meals daily, just as young athletes do. Your training history has likely preserved your muscle's ability to respond to protein efficiently.

ModerateRefutesMEDIUM confidence
This review puts forth the argument that Master athletes have similar muscle characteristics, physiological responses to exercise, and protein metabolism as young athletes and, therefore, are unlikely to have protein requirements that are different from their young contemporaries.
Daniel R. Moore · Sports Medicine · 2021

Why this rating

The paper is a narrative review synthesizing indirect evidence from trained older adults and young athletes, lacking direct dose-response studies in Master athletes.

Source

Protein Requirements for Master Athletes: Just Older Versions of Their Younger Selves

Daniel R. Moore · Sports Medicine · 2021

DOI 10.1007/s40279-021-01510-0

narrative_reviewCited 25×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →