Marjolein Visser, Yung Hung, Wim Verbeke

Nutrients 2021, 13, 1006. https:// doi.org/10.3390/nu13031006

About one in four older adults do not eat enough protein. Providing information to older adults about dietary protein might lead to an improvement in protein intake. To optimally provide this information, it is important to know what older adults already know about dietary protein. We measured the knowledge about dietary protein in almost 2000 community-dwelling older Europeans from five countries. Most older adults knew that dietary protein is important for health and muscles. Fewer older adults knew the correct protein content of foods. However, only few older adults were knowledgeable on the recommended protein intake. Overall, about half of the older population had a poor knowledge. Males, those unable to walk for 5 minutes, those not always making their own food decision, and those with a lower income were more likely to have poor knowledge. Furthermore, large knowledge differences were observed between the five countries. We conclude that the level of knowledge about dietary protein can be improved in about half of the older population. Better communication and information about dietary protein is thus needed and should be targeted to the groups with the poorest knowledge.

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