are: (1) in elite male athletes where the maximal requirement is
approximately 1.6 g protein/kg/day; (2) in case of low energy and/
or low carbohydrate intake (3, 18). In this second situation, protein requirement is much more complicated to estimate. Unfortunately, this state of energy and/or carbohydrate deficit is not uncommon
in female endurance runners as mentioned above. Protein requirements for elite endurance athletes have mainly been calculated in
men but it seems that requirements for women are about 25% lower than those for men, i.e., 1.2–1.3 g protein/kg/day (19, 20). Most
athletes are able to reach these protein requirements from their
usual daily diet as long as proteins represent 10–15% of the energy
and as long as total energy supply is adequate (3). Nevertheless,
protein intake should be assessed on grams per kilogram basis
instead of a percentage of the diet, as the latter could result in low
absolute intakes in energy restricting athletes.