The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) began 40 years ago as a pilot program and has since grown to serve over 8 million pregnant women, and mothers of and their infants and young children. Today the program serves more than a quarter of the pregnant women and half of the infants in the United States, at an annual cost of about $6.2 billion. Through its contribution to the nutritional needs of pregnant, breastfeeding, and post-partum women; infants; and children under 5 years of age; this federally supported nutrition assistance program is integral to meeting national nutrition policy goals for a significant portion of the U.S. population. To assure the continued success of the WIC, Congress mandated that the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reevaluate the program's food packages every 10 years. In 2014, the USDA asked the Institute of Medicine to undertake this reevaluation to ensure continued alignment with the goals of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. In this third report, the committee provides its final analyses, recommendations, and the supporting rationale.
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) began 40 years ago as a pilot program and has since grown to serve over 8 million pregnant women, and mothers of and their infants and young children. Today the program serves more than a quarter of the pregnant women and half of the infants in the United States, at an annual cost of about $6.2 billion. Through its contribution to the nutritional needs of pregnant, breastfeeding, and post-partum women; infants; and children under 5 years of age; this federally supported nutrition assistance program is integral to meeting national nutrition policy goals for a significant portion of the U.S. population. To assure the continued success of the WIC, Congress mandated that the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reevaluate the program's food packages every 10 years. In 2014, the USDA asked the Institute of Medicine to undertake this reevaluation to ensure continued alignment with the goals of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This, the second report of this series, provides a summary of the work of phase I of the study, and serves as the analytical underpinning for phase II in which the committee will report its final conclusions and recommendations.
Started in 1974, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) was designed to meet the special nutritional needs of low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, or postpartum women; infants; and children up to 5 years of age who have at least one nutritional risk factor. The WIC Program provides three main benefits: supplemental foods, nutrition education, and referrals to health and social services. Since the inception of the WIC program, substantial changes in size and demographics of the population, food supply and dietary patterns, and health concerns have made it necessary to review the WIC food packages. Proposed Criteria for Selecting the WIC Food Packages proposes priority nutrients and general nutrition recommendations for the WIC program, and recommends specific changes to the WIC packages.
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (the WIC program) has promoted the health of low-income families for more than 30 years by providing nutrition education, supplemental food, and other valuable services. The program reaches millions of families every year, is one of the largest nutrition programs in the United States, and is an important investment in the nation's health. The U.S. Department of Agriculture charged the Institute of Medicine with creating a committee to evaluate the WIC food packages (the list of specific foods WIC participants obtain each month). The goal of the study was to improve the quality of the diet of WIC participants while also promoting a healthy body weight that will reduce the risk of chronic diseases. The committee concluded that it is time for a change in the WIC food packages and the book provides details on the proposed new food packages, summarizes how the proposed packages differ from current packages, and discusses the rationale for the proposed packages.
Review of WIC Food Packages: An Evaluation of White Potatoes in the Cash Value Voucher assesses the impact of 2009 regulation to allow the purchase of vegetables and fruits, excluding white potatoes, with a cash value voucher on food and nutrient intakes of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) population and to consider whether white potatoes should be permitted for purchase with the voucher. This report considers the effects on diet quality, the health and cultural needs of the WIC population, and allows for effective and efficient administration nationwide in a cost-effective manner. Review of WIC Food Packages: An Evaluation of White Potatoes in the Cash Value Voucher recommends that the U.S. Department of Agriculture should allow white potatoes as a WIC-eligible vegetable, in forms currently permitted for other vegetables, in the cash value voucher pending changes to starchy vegetable intake recommendations in the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
This report reviews the methods used to estimate the national number of people eligible to participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) under full funding of the program. It reviews alternative data sets and methods for estimating income eligibility, adjunctive eligibility (which occurs when people are eligible for WIC because they are enrolled in other federal public assistance programs) and nutritional risk, as well as for estimating participation if the program is fully funded.
The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a federally-funded program designed to provide healthy meals and snacks to children and adults while receiving day care at participating family day care homes, traditional child care centers, afterschool facilities, adult care facilities, and emergency shelters. CACFP has the broadest scope of any of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food program, serving more than 3 million children and 114,000 adults across the nation. To receive reimbursement for the foods served, participating programs must abide by requirements set by the USDA. Child and Adult Care Food Program assesses the nutritional needs of the CACFP population based on Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) and makes recommendations for revisions to the CACFP meal requirements. The book outlines meal requirements that include food specifications that could be used for specific meals and across a full day, covering all age groups from infants to older adults and meal patterns designed for use in a variety of settings, including in-home care and in large centers. By implementing these meal requirements, consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain rich foods will increase while consumption of solid fats, added sugars, and sodium will decrease. Not only will this address the high prevalence of childhood obesity, it will also help to achieve consistency with the standards and regulations of other USDA nutrition assistance programs, particularly the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs. Child and Adult Care Food Program makes practical recommendations that would bring CACFP meals and snacks into alignment with current dietary guidance. The book will serve as a vital resource for federal and state public health officials, care providers working in child and adult day care facilities, WIC agencies, officials working with the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs, and other organizations serving at-risk populations.
Dietary Risk Assessment in the WIC Program reviews methods used to determine dietary risk based on failure to meet Dietary Guidelines for applicants to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Applicants to the WIC program must be at nutritional risk to be eligible for program benefits. Although "dietary risk" is only one of five nutrition risk categories, it is the category most commonly reported among WIC applicants. This book documents that nearly all low-income women in the childbearing years and children 2 years and over are at risk because their diets fail to meet the recommended numbers of servings of the food guide pyramid. The committee recommends that all women and children (ages 2-4 years) who meet the eligibility requirements based on income, categorical and residency status also be presumed to meet the requirement of nutrition risk. By presuming that all who meet the categorical and income eligibility requirements are at dietary risk, WIC retains its potential for preventing and correcting nutrition-related problems while avoiding serious misclassification errors that could lead to denial of services for eligible individuals.
More than 16 million children in the United States live in food-insecure households where they are unable to obtain enough food to meet their needs. At the same time, a growing number of children are overweight or obese. Because of these challenges, improving child nutrition has emerged as one of the nation's most urgent public health needs. The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food program, served about 3.3 million children in 2011, as well as more than 124,000 adults who require daily supervision or assistance. Since many children rely on CACFP for the majority of their daily food, the quality of foods provided has the potential to greatly improve the health of the children's diets. The USDA asked the IOM to review and recommend improvements, as necessary, to the CACFP meal requirements in order to keep them aligned with other federally funded food assistance programs and with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The 2011 IOM report, Child and Adult Care Food Program Aligning Dietary Guidance for All, reviewed the program in detail and provided recommendations for improvement. In February 2012, at the request of the USDA, the IOM conducted an additional workshop to examine research methods and approaches that could be used to design and conduct a nationally representative study assessing children's dietary intake and participation rates in child care facilities, including CACFP-sponsored child care centers and homes. Research Methods to Assess Dietary Intake and Program Participation in Child Day Care: Application to the Child and Adult Care Food Program Workshop Summary is the report that summarizes the workshop.
This book reviews the scientific basis for nutrition risk criteria used to establish eligibility for participation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). The volume also examines the specific segments of the WIC population at risk for each criterion, identifies gaps in the scientific knowledge base, formulates recommendations regarding appropriate criteria, and where applicable, recommends values for determining who is at risk for each criterion. Recommendations for program action and research are made to strengthen the validity of nutrition risk criteria used in the WIC program.
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