WIC Food Packages

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children(the WIC program) has promoted the health of low-income families for more than30 years by providing nutrition education, supplemental food, and other valuableservices. The program reaches millions of families every year, is one of the largestnutrition programs in the United States, and is an important investment in thenation's health. The U.S. Department of Agriculture charged the Institute of Medicinewith creating a committee to evaluate the WIC food packages (the list of specificfoods WIC participants obtain each month). The goal of the study was to improvethe quality of the diet of WIC participants while also promoting a healthy bodyweight that will reduce the risk of chronic diseases. The committee concluded thatit is time for a change in the WIC food packages and the book provides details onthe proposed new food packages, summarizes how the proposed packages differfrom current packages, and discusses the rationale for the proposed packages.