Comparison of Dietary Protein Intake Patterns and Inadequate Protein Intake in Older Adults Among Countries

There will be a literature review in search of other studies reporting protein intake patterns in older adults. These studies must report total, and per-meal protein intake, evaluated through 24-h dietary recalls, food diaries or food frequency questionnaires. Afterwards, the researchers will contact the authors for data requests and analyze the data; these data will also include some demographic variables (e.g. sex, age, height, weight). Once the data are obtained, the patterns of protein intake will be compared among countries with an ANOVA test. As it is very likely that variances and/or sample sizes will be unequal, a Welch's correction and a Dunnett test for post hoc analyses will be performed. This analysis is going to be performed for the whole sample and by sex. Similarly, the proportion of older adults that do not reach the recommended amounts of protein in a daily (0.8, 1.0, 1.2 g/kg/day) and per meal basis (30 g, 0.4 g/kg) will be calculated. These proportions will be compared among countries with a chi-squared test and employing a z-test for proportions (with Bonferroni adjustment) to identify pairwise differences.