More Plant Based and Less Dairy Foods for American WIC National Nutrition Program

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Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Also Included In: Public Health;  Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 10 Dec 2007 - 7:00 PST

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The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said last week it is going to increase the amount of plant based (whole grains, vegetables, and fruit) foods and decrease the amount of dairy foods (milk, eggs, and cheese) in the country's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), following the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine and bringing it in line with current federal dietary guidelines.

The new provision, the first major change since the inception of the WIC more than 30 years ago, must be in place across the board by August 2009, said the USDA.

The WIC is one of the biggest nutrition schemes in the US, providing food "packages" to around half of all US infants and a quarter of children aged between 1 and 4 and their mothers, according to figures from the year 2000. In many cases the "packages" are not parcels of food but vouchers that can be exchanged for particular foods in participating grocery stores.

WIC serves people who are at risk of malnutrition, defined as being at risk of not meeting the national dietary guidelines.

The Institute of Medicine carried out a review of the WIC food package in 2005, and recommended, among other things, that the USDA increase the amount of whole grains, fruit, and vegetables, and reduce the amount of saturated fat, in the WIC food packages to bring them up to date with current scientific evidence about nutrition and the problems that families face trying to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Suzanne P. Murphy, who chaired the IOM review committee that made the recommendation in its report titled: "WIC Food Packages: Time For A Change", said that:

"We now know much more about the links between nutrition and chronic diseases, plus the nation is in the midst of an obesity epidemic."

As well increasing fruit, vegetables and whole grains, and reducing saturated fat, the IOM also recommended a number of changes to the WIC to encourage more women to breast feed their babies.

In another report, titled "Dietary Risk Assessment in the WIC Program", the IOM said there was evidence that nearly all low income childbearing women and children aged 2 to 5 who were at risk of not meeting the national dietary guidelines were vulnerable to unhealthy eating habits and were likely to benefit from the services of the WIC.

More than 8 million Americans receive services from the WIC every month, including 4 million children, 2 million infants, and nearly 2 million women.

Pregnant women, and those who have just given birth, and children up the age of 5 are entitled to apply for WIC assistance. They must fall below a certain income threshold, have a State residency requirement, and be assessed to be at "nutrition risk". The income threshold is at or below 185 per cent of the US Poverty Income Guidelines (currently 35,798 dollars for a family of four).

The WIC defines two types of nutrition risk: medical and dietary. Medical risk includes anemia, history of pregnancy complications or poor pregnancy outcomes, underweight and overweight. Dietary risk includes not meeting the national dietary guidelines or poor nutrition habits. All eligible applicants are entitled to a free health screening test to assess nutrition risk.

Some WIC state agencies distribute the WIC foods via warehouses or direct to the participants' homes. The foods supplied are generally those with nutrients found to be lacking in the diet of the WIC targer population, including protein, calcium, iron, and vitamins A and C. Different categories of participants get different food packages.

Currently, infant packages include iron-fortified infant formula and cereal, for example, whereas an adult package might contain adult cereal, fruits or vegetable juice rich in vitamin C, as well as eggs, cheese, milk, peanut butter, dried beans and peas, carrots and tuna fish. Babies and adults with a recognized medical condition can receive additional or alternative therapeutic infant formulas and medical foods, according to a doctor's prescription.

The WIC is administered by 90 state agencies through 2,200 local agencies and 9,000 clinical sites throughout the US.

In 2006, Congress set aside 5.2 billion dollars for the WIC program.

Click here for more information on WIC from the USDA (PDF).

Click here for brief version of the IOM report "WIC Food Packages: Time For A Change" (2005, PDF).

Click here for "Dietary Guidelines for Americans" (US Dept of Health and Human Services).

Written by: Catharine Paddock
Copyright: Medical News Today
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