Impact of vouchers for purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables among low-income mothers Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women,Infants, and Children (WIC) in Los Angeles County, USA

2007 ◽  
Vol 2007 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dena R. Herman
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Los Angeles County ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Infants And Children ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition ◽  
Nutrition Program ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition Program ◽  
Low Income Mothers

scholarly journals Factors Associated with the Initiation of Added Sugar among Low-Income Young Children Participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children in the US

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 3888
Author(s):  
Morium B. Bably ◽  
Rajib Paul ◽  
Sarah B. Laditka ◽  
Elizabeth F. Racine
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Weight Status ◽  
Cox Proportional Hazards Model ◽  
Infants And Children ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition ◽  
Nutrition Program ◽  
Added Sugar ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition Program ◽  
The Impact

Added sugar intake at a young age is associated with chronic diseases including cardiovascular diseases, asthma, elevated blood pressure, and overweight. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020–2025 and the American Heart Association recommend delaying the introduction of added sugar until age 2. The aims of this study were to identify the timing of added sugar initiation; factors associated with added sugar initiation; and the top five added sugar foods and beverages consumed by infants and children at three age ranges (< 7 months, 8–13 months, and 14–24 months). Data were from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study-2, a longitudinal, national population of WIC participants enrolled in WIC eligible clinics (n = 3835). The Cox proportional hazards model was used to examine the factors associated with introducing added sugar. About 25% of children were given added sugar at or before 7 months. Contributing factors were caregivers’ race/ethnicity, education, employment, weight status, parity, child sex, and premature birth (all p < 0.05). The top added sugar foods consumed between 1–24 months were cereal, crackers, apple sauce, dessert, yogurt, sweetened beverages, syrup and preserves, and cookies. Further research to examine the impact of early initiation of added sugar on health outcomes and taste preferences is warranted.

scholarly journals Association Between Usage of an App to Redeem Prescribed Food Benefits and Redemption Behaviors Among the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children Participants: Cross-Sectional Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Zhang ◽  
Junzhou Zhang ◽  
Kayoung Park ◽  
Chuanyi Tang
Keyword(s):  
Infant Formula ◽  
Low Income ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Infants And Children ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition ◽  
Nutrition Program ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition Program ◽  
The Difference

BACKGROUND The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is one of the most important food assistance programs in the United States, serving 6.4 million low-income, eligible women, infants, and children under 5 years of age in 2019. In the program, participants are prescribed a list of food benefits, which can be redeemed in WIC-authorized stores. However, there are multiple behavioral barriers in the program and the stores that prevent participants from redeeming the benefits fully. OBJECTIVE This study aims to examine the relationship between the use of a widely used mobile phone app, WICShopper, and the redemption of the prescribed food packages. METHODS WIC administrative data were obtained from West Virginia for the period January 2019 to January 2020 and included 30,440 WIC households that had received food benefits in that period. The redemption rates of 18 WIC food benefits were compared between app users and nonapp users, that is, those who never used the app in the study period. The use behaviors were defined for the app users, including the number of active use benefit cycles, active benefit cycle rates, number of active use days in the cycle, and proportion rates of daytime use. Panel linear regressions were applied to examine how the redemption rates were related to these behaviors over time. RESULTS App users consistently had higher average redemption rates than nonapp users; the difference ranged from 3.6% (4.8% relative) for infant formula to 14.3% (40.7% relative) for fish. After controlling for sociodemographics, the coefficients of app use were significantly positive for all benefit categories except for WIC-eligible nutritionals. More active cycles and active days in the cycle were significantly related to redemption rates for all categories, except for frozen juice (coefficient=−0.002, <i>P</i>=.09). Daytime app access was positively associated with redemption rates for most food benefits except only a few, such as infant formula (coefficient=−0.03, <i>P</i>&lt;.001). CONCLUSIONS Use of the WIC app was significantly related to higher redemption rates across food benefits, although the association varied across benefit categories. More active days were positively related to benefit redemptions across food categories, and the app’s daytime use was positively associated with the redemption of most benefit categories. These findings suggest that the WIC app can be an important tool for the promotion of benefit redemption among WIC participants.

scholarly journals Dietary Quality of Pregnant Women Participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (16) ◽  
pp. 8370
Author(s):  
Arezoo Rojhani ◽  
Ping Ouyang ◽  
Angel Gullon-Rivera ◽  
Taylor Marie Dale
Keyword(s):  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Healthy Eating Index ◽  
Infants And Children ◽  
Dietary Quality ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition ◽  
Nutrition Program ◽  
Food Records ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition Program

Few studies have examined the dietary intake of low-income pregnant women participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). The aim of this study was to assess the dietary quality of WIC-enrolled pregnant women and examine associations with maternal characteristics, nutrition knowledge, and key health indicators. Fifty-one WIC-enrolled pregnant women completed two sets of 3-day food records. Food records were analyzed for nutrient content, and diet quality was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2015. Since an HEI score of less than 60 is indicative of the need to improve dietary quality, participants’ HEI scores were divided into two categories: <60 and ≥60. The total mean HEI score of the cohort based on analysis of the first set of food records was 59.1 ± 12.5 (range 37.1–89.2), while the mean score for the second 3 days of food records was 56.8 ± 12.7 (range 30.0–89.0). The majority of participants did not consume the minimum recommended servings of whole vegetables. Those in the <60 HEI category consumed on average less than 50% of the recommended servings of whole fruits and whole grains. The diets of the majority of participants were high in saturated fat and sodium. More than one-third did not meet the recommendations for folate and iron intake, while less than half met the RDA for vitamin D. Choline intake was insufficient based on analysis of the first 3 days of food records. Our results indicate that the dietary quality of WIC-enrolled pregnant women requires improvement.

scholarly journals The 2009 Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) food package change and children's growth trajectories and obesity in Los Angeles County

2019 ◽  
Vol 109 (5) ◽  
pp. 1414-1421 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Pia Chaparro ◽  
Catherine M Crespi ◽  
Christopher E Anderson ◽  
May C Wang ◽  
Shannon E Whaley
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Los Angeles County ◽  
Growth Trajectories ◽  
Obesity Risk ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition ◽  
Nutrition Program ◽  
Full Dose ◽  
Food Packages ◽  
Food Package ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition Program

ABSTRACT Background In 2009, for the first time since the program's inception in 1974, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) changed their food packages, providing food options better aligned with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the 2009 WIC food package change was associated with changes in growth trajectories from age 0 to 4 y or obesity at age 4 among children who participated in WIC in Los Angeles County between 2003 and 2016. Methods Children were grouped into 1 of 4 exposure groups: full-dose, new food package group (participating in WIC from birth to age 4, post 2009, N = 70,120), full-dose, old food package group (participating from birth to age 4, pre 2009, N = 85,871), late-dose, new food package group (participating from age 2 to 4 y, post 2009, N = 8386), and late-dose, old food package group (participating from age 2 to 4 y, pre 2009, N = 18,241). Children were matched across groups on gender, race/ethnicity, maternal education and language, family income, and initial weight status, and matched analyses were performed. Longitudinal growth trajectories were modeled using piecewise linear spline mixed models, and differences in obesity at age 4 were compared using Poisson regression models. Results Children receiving a full dose of the new food package had healthier growth trajectories and a lower obesity risk at age 4 than children receiving a full dose of the old food package (RR [95% CI]: 0.88 [0.86, 0.91] for boys, 0.90 [0.87, 0.93] for girls). Boys, but not girls, in the late-dose, new food package group had a lower obesity risk at age 4 compared with boys in the late-dose, old food package group (RR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.81, 0.98). Conclusions The WIC food package change appears to be associated with improved childhood obesity outcomes. These findings are important in informing policymakers considering further improvements to the WIC food packages.

scholarly journals Understanding the factors influencing low-income caregivers’ perceived value of a federal nutrition programme, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (06) ◽  
pp. 1056-1065
Author(s):  
Summer Joy Weber ◽  
Jana Wichelecki ◽  
Noel Chavez ◽  
Stephanie Bess ◽  
LaShon Reese ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Perceived Value ◽  
Infants And Children ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition ◽  
Nutrition Program ◽  
Perceived Need ◽  
Food Packages ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition Program ◽  
Constant Comparative Analysis ◽  
Depth Interviews

AbstractObjectiveRetention of participants has been an issue in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). It has been suggested that the perceived value of WIC may affect whether participants remain in the programme. The present study aimed to explore this phenomenon.DesignUsing a constructivist approach, thirty-one individual in-depth interviews were conducted. Transcripts were analysed using constant comparative analysis. Social, cultural and environmental factors that contribute to the value of WIC were explored as the phenomenon of interest.SettingEight WIC clinics across the State of Illinois, USA.ParticipantsThirty-one caregivers of children enrolled in WIC for at least 6 months.ResultsSeveral factors influenced perceived value of WIC at the interpersonal (level of social support), clinic (value of WIC services v. programme administration issues), vendor (shopping difficulties), community and systems levels (other programme use, stigma and restrictions on food choice). Other themes existed along continua, which overlapped several levels (continuum of perceived need and perceived value of infant formula).ConclusionsMany caregivers value WIC, especially before their child turns 1 year old. Improvements are needed at the clinic, during shopping and within the food packages themselves in order to increase perceived value of WIC.

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