back to the OP's topic...I've been very on both sides of the fence for this. In many ways most of us 'seem' to have adequate protein, not only to sustain health, but allow for high energy work and build important tissue. So, as a thing of moral consideration, I've been trying to reduce animal products consumption and become more vegetarian - which has mostly been a successful move. Plus side of this is also becoming leaner, greatly reducing risk of related heart/circulatory diseases, cancer (well... I guess that was too late or maybe just too inclined for this issue... LOL!)
But then I'm also concerned about not losing important tissue strength/mass - muscle, connective tissue, bone, etc.; so I'm reluctant to go much further in this migration to veggie...
As a summary of some of what I found - and hold reasonably accurate - in my laymen's mentality.
An article in KHN.org (Kaiser Health) -
Why Older Adults Should Eat More Protein (And Not Overdo Protein Shakes) covers a lot of what I found and which seems corroborated by quite a few other seemingly reliable sources.
A quick quote from same article: “
The total dose that you eat may not matter as much as the dose you eat at a given meal,” said Dr. Elena Volpi, a professor of geriatrics and cell biology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. “If I eat too little protein during a meal, I may not adequately stimulate the uptake of amino acids into skeletal muscle. If I eat too much, say from a large T-bone steak, I won’t be able to store all of it away.”
I fairly certain I'm getting more than enough protein - now paying attention to spreading it more evenly through the day...
I had done the protein shake thing for many years - with very little apparent changes/improvements - but maybe it also helped stem 'loss' - I don;t know.
Now being 5' 9" and 150 lbs - I'm concerned I'm not getting into 'aging' with enough muscle mass. I've always been 'thin' with a very healthy layer of fat... LOL!. The Fat layer has gotten thinner, revealing less muscle than I thought I had... LOL!
Seriously though, my muscle tends to be tough, long and stringy - very difficult to become feeling 'supple' - it's always been very firm, even 'hard' , since being young. Not sure if that's a good thing or not...
and I seriously dislike sweaty smelly interiors - like gyms... Trying to get 'weight' workout with stuff I have, and coming up with exercises which I can do in the yard...
Then there's this:
How do You Know if you're Eating too Much Protein?
Interesting that quite a few sources mention osteoporosis and osteopenia from chronic over-consumption...
... I'm going with the 'balance intake' and 'moderation' method my grandfather taught and illustrated every day, for me... Seemed to work well for him, and he seemed to enjoy every thing he ate and drank, whenever he did so - because he only had 'some', never too much... He did hard physical (but skilled) work every day from 5:30 until 'Feierabend' - the end of the work day - literally "evening celebration"...
Ride On
Yuri