Protein Requirements for Catch-up Growth

Abstract

As has been noted by other speakers in this symposium, growth is frequently used as a to include a constellation of changes associated with the elaboration of non-specific term form and function. The changes in form are most readily identifiable as an increase in linear stature and mass, but also include more subtle variations in the composition of the body and changes in the relative size of the different organs and tissues. The development and refinement of function may be more difficult to quantify and is not as clearly characterized, although of no les5 importance. My comments will not include any considerations of function, other than in the most general sense. Later speakers will consider in detail the factors at the cellular and molecular lcvel which might contribute to influence incremental height gain and the complexities of these interactions. It is not as yet clear how these influences are integrated in the whole animal.