The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) began 40 years ago as a pilot program and has since grown to serve over 8 million pregnant women, and mothers of and their infants and young children. Today the program serves more than a quarter of the pregnant women and half of the infants in the United States, at an annual cost of about $6.2 billion. Through its contribution to the nutritional needs of pregnant, breastfeeding, and post-partum women; infants; and children under 5 years of age; this federally supported nutrition assistance program is integral to meeting national nutrition policy goals for a significant portion of the U.S. population. To assure the continued success of the WIC, Congress mandated that the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reevaluate the program's food packages every 10 years. In 2014, the USDA asked the Institute of Medicine to undertake this reevaluation to ensure continued alignment with the goals of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. In this third report, the committee provides its final analyses, recommendations, and the supporting rationale.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) began 40 years ago as a pilot program and has since grown to serve over 8 million pregnant women, and mothers of and their infants and young children. Today the program serves more than a quarter of the pregnant women and half of the infants in the United States, at an annual cost of about $6.2 billion. Through its contribution to the nutritional needs of pregnant, breastfeeding, and post-partum women; infants; and children under 5 years of age; this federally supported nutrition assistance program is integral to meeting national nutrition policy goals for a significant portion of the U.S. population. To assure the continued success of the WIC, Congress mandated that the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reevaluate the program's food packages every 10 years. In 2014, the USDA asked the Institute of Medicine to undertake this reevaluation to ensure continued alignment with the goals of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This, the second report of this series, provides a summary of the work of phase I of the study, and serves as the analytical underpinning for phase II in which the committee will report its final conclusions and recommendations.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides nutritious foods and assistance to low-income pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and young children. Research has shown that WIC helps to improve birth and dietary outcomes and contain health care costs. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) oversees the program, which is administered by state and local agencies. While federal regulations define criteria that must be used to determine applicants’ income eligibility for WIC, state and local agencies are also given some discretion. In addition, federal law allows families who participate in other assistance programs, such as Medicaid, to be automatically income-eligible for WIC. This report assessed: (1) How do state and local criteria for determining WIC income eligibility vary? (2) To what extent are individuals who would otherwise be ineligible for WIC deemed eligible due to their participation in other programs? (3) How does USDA assist and monitor state determination of WIC income eligibility? Tables and figure. This is a print on demand report.