Nutrition Policy Institute Director Dr. Lorrene Ritchie presents at the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior, SNEB, 2024 international conference. This year's international conference, themed “Understanding Foodways: Learning, Growing, and Sustaining,” will highlight the reasons why we eat the foods we eat and the impacts of those choices on ourselves and our communities. The SNEB conference takes place at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and through a virtual livestream from July 29th through August 1st, 2024. Lorrene Ritchie participates in a session on August 1, 3:30-4:30 p.m. ET titled “Food Waste Reduction Efforts: The Intersection of Food Ways, Climate Change, and Human Health,” along with Sara Elkbakib and Yu Meng. Additionally, Ritchie presents a poster on July 31, 4:30-5:30 p.m. ET titled “Boosting the Benefits of WIC: Exploring Participant Perspectives from the 2023 Multi-State WIC Survey;” co-authored by NPI's Danielle Lee and Celeste Felix as well as Georgia Machell, and Loan Kim. Ritchie is one member of the team for an additional poster presentation on July 31, 4:30-5:30 p.m. EST titled “Child and Adult Care Food Program Meal Reimbursement Rates and Program Participation by Family Child Care Homes in California,” presented by Susana Matias of UC Berkeley's Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology Department, and co-authored by NPI's Danielle Lee, Kassandra Bacon, and Celeste Felix, and CACFP Roundtable's Samantha Kay-Daleiden Marshall and Elyse Homel Vitale. Furthermore, Ritchie gives an oral presentation on July 31, 2:30-3:15 p.m. ET titled “Impact of Increased Child and Adult Care Food Program Reimbursement Rates for Family Child Care Home Providers in California,” co-authored by NPI's Danielle Lee, Kassandra Bacon, and Celeste Felix, CACFP Roundtable's Samantha Kay-Daleiden Marshall and Elyse Homel Vitale, and UC Berkeley's Susana Matias. Lastly, Ritchie speaks on July 31, 3:30-4:30 p.m. ET and a subsequent invited poster presentation on August 1, 4:30-5:30 p.m. ET titled “Transition to freshly prepared school meals: impact of meal appeal student participation, intake, food and packaging waste & school finance,” co-authored by NPI's Celeste Felix, Danielle Lee, and Wendi Gosliner, as well as UC Berkeley School of Public Health's Hannah Thompson, Caroline Nguyen, and Kris Madsen.
Children participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children—commonly known as WIC—are at nutritional risk and need essential nutrients from fruits and vegetables to support development. The WIC food package includes a monthly Cash Value Benefit for purchasing fruits and vegetables. A study in Los Angeles analyzed the impact of increasing the Cash Value Benefit on the amount and diversity of fruits and vegetables purchased by WIC participants. The Cash Value Benefit was raised from $9 to $35 per month and then adjusted to $24. Survey and redemption data from caregivers representing 1,463 WIC children showed that the diversity of fruits and vegetables redeemed increased significantly when the Cash Value Benefit increased. Although the study did not find a direct link between fruit and vegetable diversity and overall consumption, a diverse diet promotes adequate development and long-term health. The study was published online in Current Developments in Nutrition, and co-authored by Alana Chaney, Gayathri Pundi and Lauren Au of the University of California, Davis Department of Nutrition, Christopher Anderson and Shannon E Whaley of Public Health Foundation Enterprises-WIC, Lorrene Ritchie of the Nutrition Policy Institute and Cassandra Nguyen from UC Cooperative Extension at UC Davis. This study was supported by the UC Davis Public Impact Research Initiative, US Department of Agriculture/National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch Project# CA-D-NTR-2689-H, Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, round 12, grant number 77239, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, grant number 2020-70267 and the University of California Office of the President Historically Black Colleges and Universities Fellowship.
The federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children—commonly known as WIC—safeguards the health of pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and young children from low-income households who are at nutritional risk. The WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study, also known as the "Feeding My Baby Study," is the only national study to capture data on caregivers and their children over the first nine years of the child's life after enrollment in WIC, regardless of their continued participation in the program. The WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study-2: Sixth Year Report is the seventh in a series generated from this study. It focuses on children's dietary intake patterns, eating behaviors, and weight status during the child's 6th year, after WIC eligibility has ended. The report also explores whether patterns of WIC participation in early childhood are associated with dietary behaviors and nutrient intakes after WIC eligibility ends. Key findings from the report include:
- Consistent 5-year participation in WIC is associated with better overall diet quality at age 6 compared to participation during only the first year of life.
- Longer participation in WIC is associated with lower saturated fat intake at age 6.
- At age 6, study children consumed recommended amounts of macronutrients but had inadequate intake of certain micronutrients, including vitamin E, calcium, and vitamin D.
- Usual intake of fruits, vegetables, dairy, protein foods, and grains among study participants was consistent with that of a national sample but lower than recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
The report was published by the US Department of Agriculture and includes Nutrition Policy Institute's Lorrene Ritchie as a co-author. Read a summary of the report online.
- Author: Brianna Aguayo Villalon
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC, provides nutrition assistance to low-income pregnant and postpartum women. The WIC cash value benefit (CVB) for fruits and vegetables was increased from $9/month to $35/month in June 2021 and was revised further to $25/month from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023. A new policy brief from the Nutrition Policy Institute and PHFE-WIC researchers shows how an increase in the CVB increased the redemption amount and diversity of fruits and vegetables purchased among participating families. The brief highlights findings from a larger study of 1578 WIC-participating families in Los Angeles, California that analyzed their purchases during the increase of the CVB. Study results show that the increased CVB led to significant rises in both the prevalence and dollar amount of fruit and vegetable redemption, benefiting 53 of 54 commodity groups and enhancing dietary diversity for participating households. The policy brief was developed by Catherine Yepez, Christopher Anderson, and Shannon Whaley of PHFE-WIC, a program of Heluna Health, in collaboration with Lauren Au of the University of California, Davis, Department of Nutrition, and Marisa Tsai and Lorrene Ritchie with the Nutrition Policy Institute.
The Nutrition Policy Institute, founded in 2014, is celebrating ten years of high-impact research. A new video in Spanish highlight's NPI's accomplishments and contributions to public health in California related to universal school meals, improving the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (commonly known as WIC), provide fresh food in correctional facilities, improving quality and access to drinking water in schools and child care, and promoting access to fresh produce for families in need by promoting CalFresh (nationally known as SNAP) benefit use at farmers Markets. The video also highlight's the NPI Student Fellowship which aims to foster diversity in the next generation of public health nutrition leaders. The Spanish video description is below:
UC ANR y NPI Celebran una década de impacto en la comunidad
Únete a nosotros para celebrar una década de logros del Instituto de Políticas de Nutrición (NPI). Descubre cómo nuestras iniciativas han transformado la salud pública en California:
- Comidas Escolares para Todos: Asegurando que cada niño tenga acceso a comidas nutritivas en la escuela.
- Mejoras al Programa WIC: Optimizando el apoyo nutricional para mujeres y niños de bajos ingresos.
- De la Granja a las Correccionales: Proporcionando alimentos frescos en instalaciones correccionales.
- Beca Estudiantil NPI: Fomentando la próxima generación de líderes en nutrición pública.
- Agua Potable en Escuelas: Garantizando la calidad del agua para una mejor salud infantil.
- Beneficios de CalFresh en Mercados de Agricultores: Promoviendo el acceso a productos frescos para familias necesitadas.
Tu apoyo es fundamental para continuar nuestra misión. Contribuye hoy y ayúdanos a seguir mejorando la nutrición en California.
The video, developed by the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resource's News and Outreach in Spanish, and a complementary news story, "Instituto de Políticas de Nutrición: 10 años de hacer que las opciones saludables sean más accesibles para todos," are available online.