Child Health

WIC Food Package Changes: Trends in Childhood Obesity Prevalence

Using cross-sectional measurements, they found that state-specific obesity rates decreased in WIC children ages 2-4 following the 2009 changes to the WIC food package.

WIC Works: Addressing the Nutrition and Health Needs of Low-Income Families for 40 Years

Over four decades, researchers have investigated WIC’s effects on key measures of child health such as birth weight, infant mortality, diet quality and nutrient intake, initiation and duration of breastfeeding, […]

Maternal diet during lactation and breast-feeding practices have synergistic association with child diet at 6 years

Objective: Children breast-fed during infancy consume more fruits and vegetables than formula-fed children. This pattern is likely due, in part, to infant learning from flavours of the mother’s diet transmitted […]

How WIC Gives Children a Healthy Start, Preventing Obesity in Early Childhood

In this blog, Georgia Machell, PhD, Senior Director, Research & Program Operations for the National WIC Association, and Jim Weill, J.D., President of Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), are interviewed […]

Changes in Obesity Among US Children Aged 2 Through 4 Years Enrolled in WIC During 2010-2016

WIC Participant and Program Characteristics data was analyzed by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The analysis found that for children between the ages of 2 […]

An Examination of Sugar Sweetened Beverage Consumption Among Young Children in Eastern North Carolina: A Program Evaluation

The prevalence of obesity and dental caries among children is associated with early and frequent consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSB). Therefore, practicing healthy eating habits early in childhood is […]

Assessing Child Health and Health Care in the U.S. Virgin Islands Using the National Survey of Children’s Health

Objectives To characterize the health and health care experiences of children in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), assess differences by household poverty status, and provide comparisons to the general U.S. […]

Use of a mixed-method approach to evaluate the implementation of retention promotion strategies in the New York State WIC program

The article details several factors responsible for early exit from the WIC program including changing SES status, lack of awareness concerning eligibility, hours of operation, location, job conflicts, and food […]

New York WIC Retention Promotion Study: Keep, Reconnect, Thrive

Increasing NYS WIC retention rates among eligible participants is critical to improving the nutrition status and eating behaviors of low income families, nurturing optimal child development, and supporting childhood obesity […]

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

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 […]