Review of WIC Food Packages

Review of WIC Food Packages
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 1063
Release: 2017-06-25
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309450160

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.

Dietary Risk Assessment in the WIC Program

Dietary Risk Assessment in the WIC Program
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2002-05-10
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309082846

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.

WIC Nutrition Risk Criteria

WIC Nutrition Risk Criteria
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 392
Release: 1996-06-10
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309053854

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.

WIC Program

WIC Program
Author: Rosalie Parsons
Publisher: Nova Science Publishers
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: Food relief
ISBN: 9781634838542

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides supplemental nutrition-rich foods and nutrition education (including breastfeeding promotion and support), as well as referrals to health care and social services, to low-income, nutritionally at-risk women, infants, and children up to five years old. Eligible women are specifically limited to those pregnant and post-partum (if breastfeeding, women are eligible for more benefits for a longer period of time). The WIC program seeks to improve the health status of its participants and prevent the occurrence of health problems during critical times of growth and development. This book provides an overview of the WIC program, including administration, funding, eligibility, benefits, benefits redemption, and cost containment policies. It also examines program trends, and discusses some of the major economic issues facing the program.

The WIC Program

The WIC Program
Author: Victor J. Oliveira
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 90
Release: 2009
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 1437924492

The mission of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is to safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, and children through age 4 who are at nutritional risk. WIC provides nutritious foods to supplement diets, nutrition education, and referrals to health care and other social services. Almost half of all infants and about a quarter of all children ages 1-4 in the U.S. participate in the program. WIC accounts for 10% of total Federal spending on food and nutrition assistance. This report describes the WIC program ¿ how it works, its history, program trends, and the characteristics of the population it serves. It also examines current issues facing WIC, focusing mainly on those with important economic implications.

Motherhood, Poverty, and the WIC Program in Urban America

Motherhood, Poverty, and the WIC Program in Urban America
Author: Suzanne Morrissey
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2015-12-24
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 0739189344

The study presented here is one of urban poverty, household survival, and social institutions that both enable and control the decision-making of poor women in America. First and foremost, it is about a public health program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known more commonly as WIC, and how the institution re-inscribes persistent stereotypes of the urban poor on the women it eagerly wishes to serve. Despite encountering opposition and occasionally humiliation at the hands of those chosen to serve, many low-income women throughout the United States and Puerto Rico return to WIC every month because it represents a rite of passage that characterizes pregnancy. Enrolling in WIC prenatally signifies to others the importance of providing for one’s family in spite of socioeconomic disadvantage. Yet whether women access WIC benefits or not, their lived realities include a painful and enduring connection between urban poverty and health inequalities, particularly inequalities leading to poor birth outcomes and infant mortality, as explored in this urban ethnography.

Domestic Food Assistance Programs

Domestic Food Assistance Programs
Author: Steve W. Martinez
Publisher:
Total Pages: 52
Release: 1992
Genre: Agriculture
ISBN:

The primary objective of this report is to estimate the price and income of U.S. food assistance programs in order to evaluate the extent to which food assistance programs benefit low-income urban households, compared with the rural farm sector. Also evaluates the effects that food assistance programs have had on recipient's food expenditures.