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WIC Food Package


Limited Supermarket Availability Is Not Associated With Obesity Risk Among Participants in the Kansas WIC Program

The researchers examines the availability of food stores for low-income women in Kansas and investigated whether food store availability was associated with obesity, using data from women participating in the WIC Program in Kansas. Most WIC recipients lived within 1 mile of a small grocery store, and there was an association of density of any type of food store with obesity in micropolitan areas.


2005 WIC Vendor Management Study, Final Report

In 1991 and 1998, FNS conducted national studies of WIC vendors to determine the extent of vendor violation of WIC Program rules. After the 1998 study, FNS issued regulations to correct vendor practices. The 2005 study replicated the 1998 study and had the following goals: (1) to determine whether the regulations were effective and (2) to measure the frequency of vendor violations and the degree to which vendors charged accurate prices for WIC transactions. It also provided data on payment error, as required by the Improper Payments Information Act (IPIA) of 2002 (P.L. 107-300).


WIC Program: More Detailed Price and Quantity Data Could Enhance Agriculture’s Assessment of WIC Program Expenditures

To determine what effect WIC-only vendors ; growth would have on program expenditures, in the absence of recent cost-containment legislation, Congress asked Government Accountability Office the following questions: (1) What is known about WIC-only vendors ; growth and their share of the WIC market in recent years? (2) To what extent do WIC-only and regular WIC vendors differ? (3) What would WIC-only vendors ; contribution to WIC Program expenditures have been if their market share had increased? Government Accountability Office analyzed national WIC vendor data; interviewed WIC state officials about vendors ; business practices; and analyzed redemption data from California, Texas, and Florida.


A Comparison of WIC Vendor Management Practices in 1991 and 1998

This report presented a re-analysis of the data from the 1991 and 1998 WIC Vendor Management Practices studies, which allowed comparisons of the findings. From operational and management perspectives, it was important for FNS to know whether there had been any changes in vendor management practices from 1991 to 1998.


Effect of a Targeted Subsidy on Intake of Fruits and Vegetables Among Low-Income Women in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children

In this study, the authors tested the effectiveness of a subsidy for fruits and vegetables on the WIC Program. Women who enrolled for postpartum services (n = 602) at three WIC sites in Los Angeles were assigned to either an intervention (farmers market or supermarket, both with redeemable food vouchers) or a control condition (a minimal non-food incentive). Results indicated that intervention participants increased their consumption of fruits and vegetables and sustained the increase 6 months after the intervention was terminated.


Choices Made by Low-Income Women Provided with an Economic Supplement for Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Purchase

This study investigated whether women who received supplemental financial support specifically for the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables would exhibit high uptake of the supplement. The researchers also recorded what those individuals would choose to purchase. The authors concluded that women used the supplement provided almost fully and that they purchased a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables for their families. No particular barriers arose to redemption of the vouchers by either the participants or retail vendors.


Walk Texas! 5-A-Day Intervention for Women, Infants, and Children Clients: A Quasi-Experimental Study

This study was conducted to evaluate the Walk Texas! Clinical Counseling Guide for Nutrition, a brief, stage-based nutritional counseling guide designed for use in clinical settings. Primary measures included state of change, barriers to change, attitudes toward fruits and vegetables (F&V), self-efficacy, and self-reports of F&V consumption. Results were mixed. Although there was no significant increase in the cognitive constructs (e.g., self-efficacy, attitudes), participants in the intervention clinics reported a significant increase in the state of change and a composite measure of F&V intake.