Abstract: Protein is an important nutrient for the human body. Long-term lack of proteins will directly or indirectly lead to increased incidence of low immunity, muscle attenuation, osteoporosis and other diseases. This phenomenon is more prominent in the elderly, which reduces their exercise and metabolic capacity, directly affects their quality of life. This in turn increases the burden on the public health and medical system in China, which hinders the steady advancement of the ‘Healthy China’ strategy. At present, the major ways to improve inadequate protein intake and deficiency in the elderly include improving food properties (changing protein structure) and physical function (adding ingredients that can promote the secretion of protein-digesting enzymes), and changing the diet structure (increasing oligopeptide intake) and habits (increasing protein intake and types). The effects of aging on protein digestion and absorption capacity are discussed, the existing methods to promote protein digestion and absorption are summarized, and future directions for improving the protein digestion and absorption capacity of the elderly are discussed in order to provide a reference for future research to promote nutrition especially protein absorption in the elderly.

Key words: protein; the elderly; ingestion; enzymes; digestion and absorption