Start Date: February 2020

ID #: 86839

Principal Investigator: Hilary Seligman, MD, MAS

Organization: The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco

Funding Round: HER Round 12

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Households with children ages 6 and younger are at a particularly high risk of food insecurity (14.3% food insecure). These are also the households in which new pregnancies are most likely to occur. The Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is designed to improve the health of low-income pregnant and post-partum women, infants, and children ages 5 and younger by providing financial support for nutritious food purchases and nutrition education. The extent to which food security, dietary intake, and/or birth outcomes can be improved by supplementing the existing WIC benefit with fruits and vegetables (F&Vs) remains unknown. This project will leverage WIC infrastructure and an ongoing local voucher program (EatSF) to provide $40 in F&V vouchers in addition to WIC benefits for pregnant WIC participants in San Francisco. This group will be compared to WIC participants in neighboring areas who are not receiving F&V vouchers in order to determine the impact of supplemental vouchers on reducing food insecurity, improving dietary intake, and improving birth outcomes. The goal of this project is to provide actionable evidence that can be translated into equity-focused strategies and policies for improving diet quality and food security for low-income pregnant women and infants.

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