The muscle protein depletion seen during critical illness is present in all age groups. Tuvdendorj et al. [40] report quantitative measurements of skeletal muscle protein turnover, including separate measurements of the synthesis rate and the degradation rate in patients with extensive burn injuries. Muscle protein degradation was increased regardless of age, but the synthesis rate was higher in children, resulting in a significantly better protein net balance in children. This finding is in line with earlier clinical reports of separate studies in children and adults of protein turnover in critical illness, but this finding of Tuvdendorj et al. is original, as it has never before been demonstrated in a homogeneous patient population dichotomised for age. Still, the generalisability beyond burn injury remains to be demonstrated.