The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) increased the Cash-Value Benefit (CVB) for fruits and vegetables in 2021. Although WIC participants reported increased purchasing, consumption, and variety of fruits and vegetables after the CVB increase, it is unknown whether this resulted in higher fruit and vegetable intake relative to nonparticipants. The More

This study evaluated responses to an electronic health record (EHR)-embedded federal nutrition program (FNP) participation screening and WIC referral tool implemented within 8 clinics during well-child visits for children younger than 5 years of age. Structured EHR data from July 2020 to October 2023 were extracted to summarize screening, referral acceptance, WIC enrollment outcomes, and More

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) improves health for young children with low household incomes, but it is underutilized after infancy due to program complexity and lower perceived value of benefits for participants aged 1 to 4 years. Increasing participants’ retention in WIC could be an important strategy for improving More

The cash-value benefit (CVB) in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) supports low-income households with young children to purchase fruits and vegetables. Our objective was to estimate whether the amounts households spent with the CVB increased after recent policy changes. In this natural experiment from 2017 to 2022 among 485 560 More

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps over 37 million Americans meet their food needs. Beginning in 2025, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) granted states waivers allowing new restrictions on foods purchasable with SNAP. As of this writing, 23 states had been granted waivers. Implementation of restrictions began in some states in January 2026, More

This study aimed to examine parents’ reactions (e.g., likes, comments) to a social media campaign encouraging participation in universal school meals (USM) programs, using a content analysis of parents’ reactions to static Facebook posts (images with captions) posted as part of a parent-directed campaign promoting USM participation. We calculated descriptive statistics of parents’ comments to More

Most foods we eat undergo some form of processing, but some foods are more heavily processed than others. This resource explains what ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are, how they differ from other types of processed foods, and what research says about their potential health impacts. It also offers practical tips to help people identify UPFs and More

This study aimed to assess impacts of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) reinstatement of tiered reimbursements among family child care home (FCCH) providers, sponsors, and families in California. Irrespective of tier, surveyed providers reported that the reinstated, tiered reimbursements were insufficient (92.4%), resulting in reduced food variety (39.1%) and quality (14.8%), and More

Pediatric dietary assessment is challenging, particularly for young children who cannot accurately report their own intake. Many existing measures are burdensome for proxy-reporters, and briefer dietary screeners focus on specific dietary components but not total diet quality. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate the reliability and validity of an adapted brief More

In partnership with Westat and with support from Healthy Eating Research, the National WIC Association (NWA) developed a new forecasting model to project funding needs of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) for Fiscal Year 2027. Report This report describes the model development, including methodology, as well as analysis conducted More