Newswise — Over five decades, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) has become known as the nation’s first “food as medicine” program. Low-income families receiving WIC benefits — which provides nutritious food in designated categories, nutrition education and access to other social services — have fewer premature births and infant deaths, eat higher-quality diets, and are more likely to receive regular medical care.
But many families who are income eligible to participate in WIC aren’t receiving those benefits. Research has found that households who don’t use the full amount of their nutrition benefits are more likely to drop from the program.
New research by the University of Washington has found that households who redeem more of their benefits in the most popular food categories are more likely to remain in the program long-term. Better understanding these patterns could help WIC agencies identify families who might need a little extra encouragement to stay enrolled.
The study was published Dec. 3 in JAMA Network Open.
“Finding ways to identify kids and families that are at risk of dropping out of the program is of high importance,” said Pia Chaparro, a UW assistant professor of health systems and population health and first author of the study. “That’s basically what we’ve identified — a way to flag families who may be at risk of dropping off.”
WIC provides families with food benefits in specific categories, with fruits and vegetables and eggs as the most popular. In partnership with Public Health Foundation Enterprises WIC (PHFE WIC), a Southern California WIC agency with a large research and evaluation division, researchers analyzed redemption data from 188,000 participating infants and children 0-3 years old, between the years 2019 and 2023.
Among those children, higher redemption of fruits and vegetables, eggs, whole milk and infant formula was associated with lower risk of their household discontinuing WIC participation.
The risk of discontinuation decreased in a somewhat linear fashion as redemption rates increased.
Chaparro hopes that local WIC agencies will build on these findings and seek new ways to engage families at risk of dropping off. All WIC providers must offer nutrition education, which could be an opportunity to target households with lower redemption rates in popular categories.
The findings come just over a year after the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees WIC, implemented significant updates to the program’s food package. Among other changes, the 2024 rule significantly increased benefits for fresh fruits and vegetables, which has proven popular.
“The expansion of fruit and vegetable benefits for WIC families has been among the most important policy changes of the last decade,” said Shannon Whaley, director of research and evaluation at PHFE WIC and co-author of the study. “Families want more fruits and vegetables, and this research demonstrates that their inclusion in the WIC food package is essential for longer-term engagement in the program.”
Christopher Anderson of the University of Tennessee and PHFE WIC is the corresponding author. This study was funded by The Research Innovation and Development Grants in Economics (RIDGE) Partnership.
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