Time and age trends in morning and evening protein intakes of German children and adolescents

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The present study describes time and age trends in morning and evening protein intakes and sources among German children and adolescents from 1985 to 2014. A total of 9757 three-day weighed dietary records of 1246 3- to 18-year-old participants of the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) study were analysed using polynomial mixed-effects regression models. Morning protein intake increased over the study period by approximately 1 % of morning energy intake (linear trend <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> &lt; 0·0001), with the youngest and the oldest children having the highest protein intake (linear, quadratic trend <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> &lt; 0·0001). Evening protein intake increased over time by approximately 2 % of evening energy intake in girls (linear trend <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> &lt; 0·0001) and 1 % of evening energy intake in boys (quadratic trend <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> = 0·0313), with decreasing intake with age (girls: linear trend <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> &lt; 0·0001; boys: linear trend <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> = 0·0963). Time trends were largely due to increases in protein from ‘starchy foods’. In conclusion, morning and evening protein intakes increased modestly between 1985 and 2014; these increases were, however, not accompanied by increases in traditional protein sources (i.e. meat or dairy products).</jats:p>