You're listening to life kit from NPR.
Hey, everyone, this is Regina Barber, and I'm in for Mariel Saguera.
I've been thinking about protein a bit lately.
Like, should I eat less meat because a more plant based diet is healthy?
Would it be better for the environment?
And if I do do that, am I going to get enough protein?
Am I getting enough protein?
Now, my colleague Allison Aubrey has been looking into all this for her series, how to thrive as you age, and she's NPR's food and health correspondent.
Protein is important because muscle mass is important.
Now, muscle mass peaks in our thirties, and then it starts this long, slow decline.
And maintaining muscle mass isn't just so people can look buff.
There's a real risk.
More than 45% of older adults in the US, especially women, are affected by loss of muscle, a condition that has a pretty fancy medical name, sarcopenia.
And I kind of like using this name because it sounds scary, and I think it is scary.
I mean, muscle loss is a key risk factor for falling, which is actually the top cause of death from injury in older people.
But thankfully, there's something you can do to prevent this slow decline.
We need to use our muscles, and we need to feed our muscles what they need to thrive, which is plenty of protein.
But how much protein are we talking about here?
Can we eat too much of it?
And what kind of exercises can help with all of this?