Vanlig mat med protein: lax, linser, kikärter, ost, ägg, fil och fullkornsbröd

How much protein per day, and what an active life needs beyond it

In the most recent national dietary survey of Swedish adults, protein supplied 18 percent of energy on average. The recommended range is 10 to 20 percent. The average adult was already in the upper half of that range before protein quark, protein bread and protein bars reached the shelves.

How much protein per day a person needs is a question that is easy to get wrong in both directions at once. The official minimum is lower than most people assume. The intake that research on ageing and on strength training points to is higher than that minimum. Both figures are real, they answer different questions, and for most people both are reachable at an ordinary kitchen table.

One thing first. Our own daily supplement, which appears further down, is a multivitamin with algal omega-3. It does a different job from protein, and in an active life the two sit easily in the same routine. But protein comes first: what the reference values say, why they rise after 65 and with training, how much ordinary food already gives you, and what an active life needs that protein cannot supply.

Health Royals Peak Performance, supplement with vitamin D3, K2 as MenaQ7, folate as Quatrefolic and omega-3 from algal oil

An active week at Health Royals

Protein is best taken from food. As a daily complement to an active week we have Peak Performance Formula: omega 3 from algae with 300 mg DHA, vitamin D3 25 µg, K2 as MenaQ7®, B vitamins, zinc, selenium and Extramel® at the same dose as in its two placebo-controlled human studies. Vitamin D contributes to the maintenance of normal muscle function.

See Peak Performance, multivitamin for women with omega 3

How much protein per day do you need?

For a healthy adult the European reference value is 0.83 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, which is about 58 grams for a person weighing 70 kilograms.

That figure comes from the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies, which in 2012 set an average requirement of 0.66 grams per kilogram per day from nitrogen balance data and a population reference intake of 0.83 grams per kilogram per day for adults of all ages. The Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2023 adopted both numbers and expressed the practical recommendation as 10 to 20 percent of energy, with 15 percent suggested for planning.

Livsmedelsverket translates the same range into grams in its guidance Protein, hur mycket är lagom, where 10 to 20 percent of energy corresponds to roughly 0.8 to 1.5 grams per kilogram per day, and 1.1 grams per kilogram is used when planning meals for a group.

Children and adolescents sit higher per kilogram, between 0.83 and 1.31 grams depending on age, and EFSA adds 1 gram, 9 grams and 28 grams per day in the first, second and third trimester of pregnancy.

Why do the recommendations differ so much?

Because the low figure and the high figure answer two different questions, and the gap between them is the genuinely contested part of the subject.

The 0.83 grams per kilogram value is a minimum that covers the requirement of nearly all healthy adults. It is derived from nitrogen balance, the intake at which the body is not losing more nitrogen than it takes in. It is not an intake optimised for muscle mass, strength or physical function in old age, and was never meant to be.

The tension is visible inside the Nordic recommendations. The chapter states that the evidence in the qualified systematic reviews was not sufficient to raise the average requirement for older adults, and then recommends a higher practical range for them anyway. The scoping review behind that chapter, by Ólöf Guðný Geirsdóttir and Anne-Maria Pajari in Food and Nutrition Research in 2023, is candid about why this is hard. No good measure of protein status exists, requirement estimates rest on nitrogen balance studies with known weaknesses, and the evidence linking protein intake by itself to health outcomes is limited or suggestive, because protein is difficult to separate from everything else in a protein rich food.

That does not make the higher figures guesswork: they rest on trials that measured muscle mass and physical function, a narrower question, and there the results agree often enough for the authorities to act.

Do people over 65 need more protein?

Probably yes, and Swedish and Nordic authorities now advise a higher intake for this group, even though the underlying requirement figure has not been raised.

The Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2023 state that the recommended range for older adults is 1.2 to 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight, roughly 15 to 20 percent of energy, with 18 percent used for planning and assessment. Livsmedelsverket reached the same conclusion in its 2026 report Kostråd för vuxna över 65 år med normal respektive nedsatt aptit: 15 to 20 percent of energy or 1.2 to 1.5 grams per kilogram per day, with most studies within 1.0 to 1.5 grams per kilogram and intakes up to 2.0 grams per kilogram reserved for serious illness, injury or undernutrition.

The international position paper from the PROT-AGE study group, published by Jürgen Bauer and colleagues in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association in 2013, is slightly more conservative: 1.0 to 1.2 grams per kilogram for healthy older adults, at least 1.2 grams for the physically active, and 1.2 to 1.5 grams for those with acute or chronic illness. Severe kidney disease is the exception, where protein has to be restricted under medical supervision.

The Livsmedelsverket report shows why this matters in Sweden. Around a quarter of both women and men over 65 did not reach the lower limit of the recommended protein share of 15 percent of energy. That is a real shortfall in a real group, and usually a question of appetite, meal frequency and what is on the plate rather than of powder.

How much protein do you need if you train?

More than the reference value, but less than the amounts commonly sold.

The International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand on protein and exercise, by Ralf Jäger and colleagues in 2017, concludes that 1.4 to 2.0 grams per kilogram a day is sufficient for most exercising individuals, in servings of about 0.25 grams per kilogram, or 20 to 40 grams, spread across the day. Only in a sustained energy deficit, where the goal is to keep lean mass while losing weight, does it point to 2.3 to 3.1 grams per kilogram.

The ceiling is better defined than the floor. In a meta analysis of 49 randomised trials with 1863 participants, Robert Morton and colleagues, writing in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2018, found that protein supplementation did increase strength and fat free mass during resistance training, and that intakes above about 1.6 grams per kilogram per day produced no further gain in fat free mass. For a person of 70 kilograms that ceiling is about 112 grams per day. The effect was smaller with increasing age and larger in people with more training experience.

Livsmedelsverket notes that research suggests elite athletes may need as much as 1.4 to 1.8 grams per kilogram, and that reaching those amounts is not difficult as long as energy needs are met with ordinary food.

How much protein is in ordinary food?

Enough that most people clear the reference value without planning, and the higher figures are reachable with one protein rich item added to each meal.

The figures below are from Livsmedelsverket:

  • Salmon, a 125 gram portion: 29 grams of protein
  • Cooked red lentils: 11 grams per 100 grams
  • Cooked chickpeas: 8 grams per 100 grams
  • Cheese at 17 percent fat, one 15 gram slice: 5 grams
  • Milk, yoghurt or fil, 2 decilitres: 7 grams
  • One egg of 58 grams: 6 grams
  • Wholegrain bread, one 30 gram slice: 3 grams

Two decilitres of yoghurt, two slices of wholegrain bread, two slices of cheese, one egg and a 125 gram portion of salmon add up to about 58 grams, the reference value for a 70 kilogram adult, before lunch or snacks are counted. Reported averages in Sweden were 72 grams per day for women and 92 grams per day for men.

The protein label deserves a second look here. A protein enriched bar or dessert is often an ultra processed product that costs more than the plain food it imitates, and a slice of cheese, a boiled egg or a portion of lentils would have done the same job.

What does the evidence show about higher intakes?

It shows that the gain from training has a ceiling, and that higher intakes did not adversely affect kidney filtration in healthy adults.

On the first point, the Morton meta analysis found no further gain in fat free mass above roughly 1.6 grams per kilogram per day. Protein is not a nutrient where more is reliably better once requirement and training stimulus are covered.

On the second, Michaela Devries and colleagues, in the Journal of Nutrition in 2018, pooled 28 randomised controlled trials with 1358 participants and found that higher protein intakes did not adversely affect glomerular filtration rate in healthy adults. That applies to healthy adults, not to people with kidney disease, for whom the PROT-AGE paper is explicit that intake must be restricted. EFSA could not set a tolerable upper intake level for protein, and noted that intakes up to twice the population reference intake are regularly consumed from mixed diets by some physically active and healthy adults in Europe and are considered safe.

Protein has three authorised health claims in the EU, under Commission Regulation (EU) No 432/2012: protein contributes to a growth in muscle mass, protein contributes to the maintenance of muscle mass, and protein contributes to the maintenance of normal bones.

The picture is clear. The reference value has been stable for decades, the higher range for older adults is now in official Swedish guidance, and the ceiling near 1.6 grams per kilogram for training gains comes from 49 pooled trials, not from one. Ordinary food reaches every one of those numbers. Protein is a question you can settle with arithmetic and a shopping list, which is more than can be said for most nutrients.

What does an active life need beyond protein?

Enough energy to train on, and then a handful of nutrients that protein rich food does not reliably carry: long chain omega-3, vitamin D, the B vitamins, zinc and selenium.

Protein builds and repairs tissue. The rest of an active day runs on other nutrients, and the EU register is specific about them. DHA contributes to the maintenance of normal brain function, and EPA and DHA contribute to the normal function of the heart, in both cases at a daily intake of 250 milligrams. Vitamin D contributes to normal muscle function and to the maintenance of normal bones. Niacin and vitamin B12 contribute to normal energy-yielding metabolism, and niacin, folate and vitamin B12 contribute to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue.

Protein is a nutrient Sweden gets plenty of. The shortfalls the national surveys measure sit elsewhere, vitamin D and folate among them, and the Riksmaten figures on nutrient intake show which. Long chain omega-3 depends largely on how often oily fish is on the table. A diet can be excellent on protein and still ordinary on the rest.

That is the gap Health Royals designed Peak Performance for. It is a daily multivitamin for women with omega-3 from algae, built around the nutrients a protein rich diet does not automatically deliver. For us, the ingredient cannot be separated from its source, manufacturer and studied dose, so every component is named and every amount is on the label. Health Royals works with specialist manufacturers, researchers and supplier networks when raw materials are chosen.

The omega-3 is OMEGATEX® algal oil, 500 mg giving 375 mg omega-3, of which 300 mg DHA and 50 mg EPA. Vitamin D3, 25 µg. Vitamin K2, 90 µg as MenaQ7®. Folate, 200 µg as Quatrefolic® 5-MTHF. Vitamin B12, 10 µg as MecobalActive® methylcobalamin. Thiamin 1.1 mg and niacin 16 mg. Zinc, 5 mg as L-OptiZinc®. Selenium 27.5 µg and chromium 20 µg. Hytolive® olive fruit extract, 150 mg giving 15 mg hydroxytyrosol, with 450 mg extra virgin olive oil. Extramel® melon extract, 10 mg, a source of the enzyme SOD.

Each line on that label follows its own dose logic. The two plant extracts sit at the daily amount used in their human studies: Hytolive at the 15 mg of hydroxytyrosol used in the randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study on it, and Extramel at the 10 mg used in two placebo-controlled human studies where perceived stress, fatigue and sleep-related problems were measured, which matters for recovery in an active week and which we have written about separately. The vitamins and minerals sit at nutritional levels. The named extracts have been studied at these doses.

Protein and a daily multivitamin serve different purposes, and they fit the same morning: the eggs or the shake cover the grams, the capsule covers what the grams do not. The jar is amber glass with a scent core, made to stand on the counter rather than disappear into a cupboard, and the subscription sends the jar once and refill pouches after that, two jars a year instead of twelve.

What is worth doing in practice?

Work out your own number first, then look at what you already eat before you change anything.

  • Multiply your body weight in kilograms by 0.83 for the reference value. That is the floor, not the target.
  • If you are over 65, use 1.2 to 1.5 grams per kilogram, in line with the Nordic recommendations and Livsmedelsverket.
  • If you train with weights, 1.4 to 2.0 grams per kilogram covers the research range, with no measured further gain above about 1.6.
  • Spread it out. Roughly 0.25 grams per kilogram per meal, or 20 to 40 grams, is the serving size in the sports nutrition literature.
  • Count a normal day of your own food against that number before buying anything. Most people are closer than they expect.

If the arithmetic shows a gap, the first move is a food one: an extra dairy portion, an egg at breakfast, lentils or beans in a stew, or a larger portion of fish. Powder is a convenience, not a requirement, and it is at its most useful for people who genuinely cannot eat enough, a clinical situation rather than a shopping decision.

Then look at the part of an active week that protein does not settle. Our wellbeing guide covers the nutrients where source, form and dose genuinely differ between products, and Peak Performance is our answer, one daily dose alongside whatever protein you already eat. We have done the selection so that you do not have to.

See Peak Performance Formula

Further reading

Sources