Healthy Eating Research supported this special issue of Nutrients focused on examining the influence of WIC nutrition policies on the nutritional status, dietary behavior, and health outcomes of participants. There are a number of policies embedded within the WIC program that can influence the nutritional status of the participants. These include nutrition policies related to breastfeeding promotion, nutrition education programming, nutrition education delivery, the nutritional value of the approved food items, and food store authorization. Modified policies were put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which made it difficult for WIC participants to access services. The papers in this special issue examine such topics as program participants, online ordering, benefit redemption, and breastfeeding outcomes.
Keywords: COVID-19, Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
Focus Areas: Early Childhood, Nutrition Policy & Programs
Age Groups: Pregnant women, infants and toddlers (ages 0 to 2), Preschool-age children (ages 3 to 5)
Resource Type: Special Journal Issue
Related Research
April 2024
Mixed methods evaluation of the COVID-19 changes to the WIC cash-value benefit for fruits and vegetables
Recent cash-value benefit (CVB) increases are a positive development to help increase WIC participant fruits and vegetables (FV) access. This mixed method study aimed to evaluate (a) the CVB changes’ impact on FV access among WIC child participants measured by CVB redemption rates, (b) facilitators and barriers to CVB changes’ implementation, and (c) differences in MoreApril 2024
Height and Weight Measurement and Communication With Families in Head Start: Developing a Toolkit and Establishing Best Practices
Head start (HS) programs are required to collect children’s height and weight data. Programs also communicate these results to families. However, no standardized protocol exists to guide measurements or communicate results. The purpose of this article was to describe the development of a measurement toolkit and best practices for communication. HS programs contributed to the MoreMarch 2024