What actually changes
Protein requirements rise while intake usually falls
Older adults need more dietary protein per kilogram than younger adults to maintain muscle, because the anabolic response to a given dose is blunted. Appetite and intake typically move the other way, which is why undernutrition is common and easy to miss at a normal body weight.
Frailty is the outcome that matters
Weight loss, exhaustion, slow gait, weakness and low activity describe a state that predicts hospitalisation and death better than most laboratory values. It is also partly reversible with resistance training and adequate protein.
Aggressive targets can do harm
Tight glycaemic control, aggressive weight loss and some intensive treatment targets have a worse risk-benefit profile in older adults than in midlife — hypoglycaemia, muscle loss and falls are real costs. Targets should be individualised, which is a clinical decision, not a website one.
Interventions graded in this group
Nothing in our catalogue carries a grade whose population names this group specifically. That is worth stating plainly rather than filling the space: what we have is evidence in mixed populations, and applying it here is an assumption.
Browse every graded intervention instead
Trials systematically under-enrol people over 75, and those they do enrol are healthier than average. Treat every grade on this site as less certain for this age group than the letter suggests.
Which tests matter, and when
Function first: gait speed, grip strength, nutritional status, cognition where there is a concern, and a full medication review. Additional blood panels rarely change a decision at this age unless a symptom prompts them.
No marker in our catalogue has a reference range sliced specifically for this group, so the general ranges apply. See the full range table.