3.6.1. Physical Growth and Body Composition
To evaluate the appropriateness of the children’s physical growth, the frequency of children below, within, and above the 10–90% range was calculated for weight-for-age, height-for-age, and head-circumference-for-age Z-scores according to the WHO standard. No differences were found between the intervention groups. A tendency toward higher weight-for-age Z-scores was observed at 12, 18, and 24 months of age in the formula-fed groups compared to the breastfed reference group.PeaPod data were mostly available up to 3 months of age, and the number of available measures at 6 months dropped below 20%. Fat mass increased in all three groups from 17.1 (control group), 17.5 (investigational group), and 17.5% (breastfed group) at enrollment to 21.3 (control group), 29.4 (investigational group), and 24.3% (breastfed group) at 6 months. Fat-free mass decreased from 82.9 (control group) and 82.5% (investigational and breastfed groups) at enrollment to 78.7 (control group), 70.6 (investigational group), and 75.7% (breastfed group) at 6 months (