How much protein do you need by age?

Protein needs per kilogram are highest in toddlers, settle at 0.8 g/kg in adults and rise again after 65. A table of the official values by age, what they mean at your weight, and why experts ask older adults to eat more than the RDA.

Oct 6, 2026 · By Calcelate Team

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This is not medical advice

These calculators use published population formulas. They do not know your medical history and cannot diagnose, treat or replace a doctor, pharmacist or dietitian. Do not change medication, dosing, eating or drinking decisions on the basis of a number here. If you are pregnant, under 18, over 65, have a health condition or take medication, ask a clinician first. In an emergency call your local emergency number.

Protein advice usually comes as one number for everyone. In fact the need changes over a lifetime twice: it falls as a child stops growing fast, and it rises again in older age, when the body uses protein less efficiently. In between, for most of adult life, it stays the same.

The official numbers

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is the amount that covers the needs of almost all healthy people in an age group. For protein it is set per kilogram of body weight, and then turned into grams a day using a typical weight for that age.

Protein RDA by age (Dietary Reference Intakes)

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Age	Per kg	Per lb	Girls and women	Boys and men
1–3 years	1.05 g	0.48 g	13 g a day	13 g a day
4–8 years	0.95 g	0.43 g	19 g a day	19 g a day
9–13 years	0.95 g	0.43 g	34 g a day	34 g a day
14–18 years	0.85 g	0.39 g	46 g a day	52 g a day
19 and older	0.80 g	0.36 g	46 g a day	56 g a day

The grams a day are the per-kg value times a reference body weight for each age. Pregnancy (second half): 1.1 g/kg (0.50 g/lb), 71 g a day. Breastfeeding: 1.3 g/kg (0.59 g/lb), 71 g a day. These are the US and Canadian values; other countries set their own, similar ones.

The values come from the Dietary Reference Intakes used in the US and Canada, published in the Health Canada reference tables and in the original report of the National Academies.

Children and teens

A toddler needs 1.05 g per kg, more per kg than any adult, because growing tissue is made of protein. By the teenage years the value drops to 0.85 g/kg. In grams a day the numbers still go up, because children get heavier: from 13 g at age 1–3 to 52 g for boys and 46 g for girls at 14–18.

These amounts are easy to reach with ordinary food. A glass of milk (244 g, about 8 fl oz), one egg and 50 g (1.8 oz) of chicken already give about 30 g of protein, more than the 19 g RDA of a child aged 4 to 8. A child with a restricted diet or poor growth needs a pediatrician, not a table.

Adults from 19 to 64

For adults the RDA is 0.8 g per kg (0.36 g per lb) at every age, for women and men alike. The grams a day differ by sex only because the reference weights differ: 46 g for women, 56 g for men.

The RDA is a minimum for healthy people who do not train. If you exercise regularly, sports nutrition experts recommend more: 1.2 to 1.6 g/kg for general fitness, up to 2.2 g/kg for building muscle, according to the International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand. The protein calculator gives the range for your own weight and goal.

After 65: more than the RDA

The official RDA does not change after 70. Many experts think it should. With age, muscle responds less to the same amount of protein, and muscle loss makes falls and frailty more likely.

The PROT-AGE study group recommends at least 1.0 to 1.2 g/kg a day for people over 65, 1.2 g/kg or more for those who are active, and 1.2 to 1.5 g/kg for people with acute or chronic illness. The exception is severe kidney disease without dialysis, where a doctor sets the limit.

Protein a day by weight: adults and people over 65

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Body weight	Adults, minimum	Adults who exercise	Age 65+	Age 65+ with illness
110 lb (50 kg)	40 g	60–80 g	50–60 g	60–75 g
130 lb (59 kg)	47 g	71–94 g	59–71 g	71–88 g
150 lb (68 kg)	54 g	82–109 g	68–82 g	82–102 g
170 lb (77 kg)	62 g	93–123 g	77–93 g	93–116 g
190 lb (86 kg)	69 g	103–138 g	86–103 g	103–129 g
210 lb (95 kg)	76 g	114–152 g	95–114 g	114–143 g

Adults: 0.8 g/kg minimum, 1.2–1.6 g/kg with regular exercise. Age 65 and over: 1.0–1.2 g/kg, and 1.2–1.5 g/kg with acute or chronic illness (PROT-AGE). Not for severe kidney disease: follow your doctor.

Take a person who weighs 150 lb (68 kg). At 40, the minimum is 54 g a day. At 70, the PROT-AGE target is 68 to 82 g, and with a long-term illness 82 to 102 g. That is 14 to 48 g more, about one or two extra servings of protein-rich food a day.

Pregnancy and breastfeeding

During the second half of pregnancy the RDA rises to 1.1 g/kg, and during breastfeeding to 1.3 g/kg. Both work out to about 71 g a day for a woman of reference weight, 25 g more than before.

The official numbers may be too low. A 2020 study of exclusively breastfeeding women measured needs of about 1.7 to 1.9 g/kg, and earlier work by the same group found 1.52 g/kg late in pregnancy. The protein calculator uses 1.3 to 1.9 g/kg for breastfeeding.

How to check your own intake

Weigh what you eat for a typical day and add it up in the protein in food calculator. If the total is well below the row for your weight and age, the easiest fix is to add protein to the meal that has the least.

Calculators used in this article

Protein calculator
Find your daily protein target in grams based on weight and goal: fat loss, muscle gain, general health, endurance or age. With a per-meal split and food equivalents.
Protein in food calculator
Add up the protein in what you eat: pick foods, enter grams or ounces and eggs, and see the total against your daily target. With a protein chart per 100 g for 38 foods.

By Calcelate Team. Sources are linked in the text and on the calculator pages.

2026-10-06 · Published