Start Date: November 2023

ID #: 81359

Principal Investigator: Lauren Au, PhD, RDN

Organization: Regents of the University of California

Funding Round: HER Round 13

See more related research

Share


Medicaid, SNAP, and WIC provide low-income children access to vital medical and nutrition services for long-term health and well-being. Despite these benefits, few studies have investigated if these safety net programs, or the synergistic combination of all three programs, are associated with diet quality and weight status; and none have focused on examining these longitudinal relationships during infancy and early childhood. The primary aim of the proposed project is to determine whether length of participation in Medicaid, SNAP, and WIC is associated with diet quality and weight status at 2-5 years. The secondary aim is to determine whether there are differences in infant diet quality by Medicaid, SNAP, and WIC participation status in relation to diet quality and weight status at 2-5 years, and to what extent differences at 2-5 years are explained through early infant diet quality. Together, these aims seek to address whether there is a synergistic benefit of safety net program participation on dietary quality and health. This study will be a secondary data analysis of a national, longitudinal cohort study of WIC participants (n=2858). Diet quality will be assessed using the Healthy Eating Index-2020 (HEI-2020) and weight status will be assessed using body mass index z-scores (BMIz) at 2-5 years of age.

Related Research

August 2025

Diet Quality and Weight Status are Predicted by Federal Nutrition Assistance Program Participation, Health, and Demographics

This study investigated whether demographic, social, and economic determinants of health, including length of time participating in safety net programs, are associated with diet quality and weight status in early childhood. Using the WIC infant and toddler feeding practices study-2, classification and regression tree identified the sequence of binary splits that best differentiated the sample More

June 2025

Changes in SNAP Participation and Food Expenditures for Households with Children During the Pandemic

The purposes of this research were to explore the characteristics of households with children that joined SNAP after substantial changes were made to the program in the early stages of the pandemic and to learn how the changes affected food purchases. The research team used household-based scanner data to assess demographic characteristics and food purchase More

May 2025

Implementation Insights and Equity: Considerations for Summer EBT in 2024

In 2024, the US Department of Agriculture introduced a new federal nutrition initiative, the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) program—also known as SUN Bucks. This program offers grocery benefits to low-income families with children during the summer months to help address gaps in summer food assistance. In 2024, 37 states, all 5 US territories, and More