Lipid composition for improving body composition during catch-up growth

A method for promoting controlled catch-up growth in an infant selected from the group consisting of:

• preterm infants, defined as born before 37 weeks pregnancy of the mother;
• small for gestational age infants, defined as having a birth weight below the 10th percentile for the gestational age;
• and
• infants with retarded growth, wherein the retarded growth is due to physical or mental stress after birth,
• the method comprising administering to the infant in need thereof a nutritional composition, comprising:
• (i) 4.4 to 6.0 g lipid per 100 kcal;
• (ii) 2.6 to 4.1 g protein per 100 kcal and 1.9 to 3.3 g per 100 ml, wherein the protein comprises casein and non-micellar whey protein sourced from bovine milk;
• and
• (iii) 10 to 12 g carbohydrates per 100 kcal;
• wherein the nutritional composition comprises a caloric density between 95 to 115 kcal per 100 ml;
• and
• wherein the lipid is present in lipid globules, having:
• (a) a volume-weighted mode diameter of at least 1.0 μm;
• and
• (b) a phospholipid coating, wherein the infant formula comprises at least 0.5 wt. % phospholipids based on total lipid;
• wherein controlled catch up growth is defined as a weight gain adjusted for length of <0.5 SD score within three months, wherein the three months are the first three months after term age for preterm infants and after birth for small for gestational age infants, and is defined as a weight gain adjusted for length of <0.5 SD score within three months after start of recovery for infants with retarded growth due to physical or mental stress after birth which is the first three months after the growth retardation due to mental or physical stress has stopped.