US government updates WIC nutritional security program for maternal and child health

11 Apr 2024 --- The newly introduced enhancements to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) incorporate science-based revisions and recommendations from the the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) and the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

“WIC has a half-century track record of caring for young families. USDA and the Biden-Harris Administration are committed to ensuring that moms, babies and young children continue to thrive through WIC,” comments Tom Vilsack, US secretary of agriculture. “These participant-centered changes will strengthen WIC by ensuring the foods participants receive reflect the latest nutrition science to support healthy eating and the brightest futures.”

The revisions follow the announcement that WIC is being fully funded for the 2024 fiscal year, including an extra provision of US$1 billion and a total of over US$7 billion in critical funding to provide for nearly seven million pregnant women, new mothers, infants and young children through nutritional assistance.

WIC enhancements
The WIC food packages represent prescribed foods and beverages that supplement products already consumed by participants in order to fill nutritional gaps and support healthy growth and development.

The changes to the food packages are based on the recommendations of the Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) from November 2022, which urged to align with the latest nutrition science to ensure equitable access to nutritious food.

The new food packages are based on the latest nutrition science to ensure equitable access to nutritious food.The new updates represent a fourfold increase in fruit and vegetable supply for WIC participants by boosting the amount provided and the varieties that can be purchased. FNS has made this increase a permanent provision.

The distribution of other food groups has also been increased, including whole grain options such as quinoa, blue cornmeal and teff, reflecting up-to-date dietary guidance and striving to accommodate individual and cultural preferences.

Within the dairy category, the update provides for greater flexibility on package size and non-dairy substitutions. The new additional support includes more flexibility in the amount of infant formula supplied to partially breastfed infants.

Provisions for canned goods have also been increased to reflect current dietary guidelines and ensure the intake of under-consumed essential food categories, such as canned beans and fish.

“Life-long impacts on health”
WIC state agencies now have two years to implement the changes while engaging with key partners to facilitate the new food packages to meet the needs of participants.

FNS administrator Cindy Long comments: “For the 6.6 million moms, babies and young children who participate in WIC — and the millions more eligible to participate — these improvements to our food packages have the potential to make positive, life-long impacts on health and well-being.”

Reactions from relevant trade associations and non-state actors have also been largely positive. Lauri Wright, 2023-2024 president of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, states: “WIC changes the lives of millions of participants for the better every day. WIC improves health outcomes by providing nutritious foods, nutrition education and referrals to health care, supporting healthy pregnancies and breastfeeding.”

“The changes announced in the updated food packages will help ensure that pregnant women, mothers, babies and children have access to foods with important nutrients to improve diet quality while acknowledging cultural food preferences and customs,” she adds.

Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association (APHA), asserts: “Access to healthy food is a key social determinant of health with a direct impact on the health and well-being of individuals and communities. APHA wholeheartedly supports the updates to the WIC food package made in USDA’s final rule that would increase access to healthy food for families across the nation.”

Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association, comments: “WIC has a proven track record when it comes to promoting the health and development of pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding people and young children. The USDA’s updated food package will build on the program’s long history of success in advancing maternal and child health and ensure that all children get a healthy start in life.”

By Milana Nikolova

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