Background: Dietary protein intake is vital to life. Proteins are digested, then metabolized to form other compounds serving structural or functional roles throughout the body. Here we sought to characterize dietary sources of protein in eight Latin American countries. Methods: Survey data were collected for Estudio Latinoamericano de Nutrición y Salud (ELANS); participants were from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela (n=9,218, 15-65 years-old). The primary aim of this analysis was to quantify per-person daily protein consumption by country and socio-demographic factors. Secondary aims: to quantify proportional intake of proteins by source, amount and processing, and to determine adequacy of protein/essential amino acid intake.Findings: Younger groups (adolescents 15-19 years, adults 20-33 years) had the highest intake of proteins; middle-aged adults (34-49 years) had lower intake as age increased, and older adults (50-65 years) had strikingly lower intake. Protein consumption was higher in men than women. Animal proteins comprised nearly 70% of total daily protein intake in Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador, contrasting with <60% in Peru, Costa Rica, and Chile.Interpretation: Protein consumption differed by country, sex, and age groups. Proportional intake of animal- and plant-based protein generally reflected food availability by country. These baseline data offer perspective for future studies of changes related to government policies, climate, and dietary practices.Trial Registration Details: The complete ELANS protocol was registered at Clinical Trials (#NCT02226627).Funding Information: The ELANS was initially supported by a scientific grant from the Coca-Cola Company and support from the Ferrero, Instituto Pensi/Hospital Infantil Sabara, International Life Science Institute of Argentina, Universidad de Costa Rica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Universidad Central de Venezuela/Fundación Bengoa, 19 Universidad San Francisco de Quito, and Instituto de Investigación Nutricional de Peru. The founding sponsors had no role in study design; data collection, analyses, or interpretation; writing of the manuscript; or the decision to publish the results. BK is the Else Kröner-Senior professor of Paediatrics at LMU and financially supported by the Else Kröner-FreseniusFoundation and LMU University Hospitals. A grant from Abbott was received, for the analysis of protein sources, sponsor did not get involved in any of the stages of this research.Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.Ethics Approval Statement: This study was approved by the Western Institutional Review Board (#20140605). Site-specific protocols were further approved by the ethical review boards of participating institutions. Participants provided informed consent for inclusion in the country-level studies, and participant confidentiality was maintained by use of numeric identification codes rather than names. Data transfers were done by way of a secure file-sharing system.