Muscle strength is critical in older adults for longevity and health. Since virtually every American gets enough total protein in her diet the critical factor in building and maintaining muscle mass is resistance training of some sort. Nothing else matters much.

Different protein sources have been extensively evaluated with multiple criteria to determine how effective they are for building and maintaining muscle mass. There are some surprising results.

There is a huge business selling whey powders for body building. Using multiple criteria, whey and all other animal protein sources were inferior to natural soy products like edamame, tofu, tempeh and soy milk for building and maintaining muscle mass. This evaluation does not even take into consideration that animal proteins cause increased systemic inflammation and renal damage.

Anther food that is very effective in building and maintaining muscle mass is unsweetened cocoa powder. This does not apply to Dutch processed cocoa powder which has been dealkalized to remove bitterness. The bitter polyphenols removed are the source of cocoa’s health and muscle building properties.

In spite of the huge number of studies looking at muscle building benefits of specific foods, the bottom line is that virtually everyone is eating enough protein for muscle building except for serious body builders. Those people should be eating soy products and unsweetened cocoa.