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A “pulse” protein feeding pattern that combines meals rich and low in proteins during the day may improve protein retention in older persons [24, 76]. A “spread” diet composed of four meals, spreading daily protein intake over 12 hours was compared with a pulse diet providing 80% of daily protein intake concentrated at midday. The pulse protein pattern was more efficient at improving nitrogen balances and whole‐body protein retention in aged people after 15 days. Concerning the potential explanation, it can be argued that the pulse protein diet is characterized by a couple of advantages: (i) the midday protein pulse meal may stimulate whole body synthesis by highly increasing amino acid concentration, (ii) high carbohydrate and low protein meals, i.e. at dinner, are known to limit protein loss by reducing protein breakdown rate via postprandial hyperinsulinemia, and (iii) the midday meal is combined with the daily physical activity associated with everyday life. Interestingly, the beneficial effect of the pulse protein pattern on protein accretion still persisted several days after the end of the diet [76]. The pulse protein diet also restored a significant anabolic response of skeletal muscle protein synthesis to feeding without affecting protein breakdown in old rats [77]. These studies suggest that the use of a “pulse” protein pattern increases body protein retention, in particular in skeletal muscle. This concept has been applied to malnourished and at‐risk hospitalized old patients [78] and clearly the protein pulse feeding strategy improves lean mass and skeletal muscle mass in this population. Thus, this nutritional strategy represents an attractive and safe approach rather than a simple increase in protein intake in older persons subjects since it may be difficult to achieve a high amount of dietary protein in this population. Nevertheless, according to a recent study in community‐dwelling older people, the protein pulse feeding does not induce any better effect on muscle strength, physical function, or quality of life than protein spread diet [79].