Table 2.

Agenda for Future Research to Determine the Optimal Level of Protein Intake for Older Adults

Action	Objective
Develop novel methodologies	Establish innovative outcome measures to determine the impact of protein intake on functional and health outcomes in older adults.
Design innovative longitudinal studies	Expand the current notion of total daily protein intake to examine the associations between protein intake distribution across meals on health and functional outcomes in older adults.
Randomized clinical trials	Design novel nutritional interventions to optimize protein intake aimed at improving function and health outcomes in older adults, including the hypothesis that timing of protein intake across meals has an impact on the health and functional status of older adults. Independent studies will also be needed to address the needs of healthy and frail older adults and to address the needs of older persons with chronic and acute illnesses.