The federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) provides supplemental foods, health care referrals, nutrition education, and breastfeeding support to low-income women, infants and children up to age five who are at nutritional risk. The COVID-19 pandemic brought unexpected and unprecedented changes to WIC service delivery in order to protect the health and well-being of staff and participants. Researchers at the Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) presented two talks at the National WIC Association 2021 virtual annual conference, held online June 15-17, 2021. The first shared results of quantitative and qualitative data collected during the pandemic from WIC participants and WIC local agency directors in California. Results from this study highlight the significant success of the California WIC program in reaching participants and meeting their needs during the COVID crisis and suggest multiple strategies useful for continued program improvements throughout the nation. The second talk shared results from a survey of nearly 50,000 WIC participants in 11 states and 1 Indian Tribal Organization. Researchers shared WIC participant perspectives of what worked well and what was challenging about enrollment, nutrition education, shopping for WIC foods, and use of the WIC card and app(s). The survey also collected suggestions from participants on how they would like to receive WIC services once when it is safe to return in-person to WIC clinics, and how their physical, mental and financial well-being and food insecurity changed during the pandemic. Researchers involved in the studies included NPI's Lorrene Ritchie and Danielle Lee, Georgia Machell of the National WIC Association, private consultant Linnea Sallack, and Shannon Whaley of the Public Health Foundation Enterprises-WIC. The projects were funded by grants from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation; the California study was also funded by the California Department of Public Health.

Sugar-sweetened beverages, including chocolate milk, are the leading source of added sugars in youths' diets. During the 2017-18 school year, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) implemented a policy removing chocolate milk from school lunches as part of a district-wide strategy to reduce students' intake of added sugars. A new research brief from the University of California, Nutrition Policy Institute (UC NPI) describes the impact of this policy on students' intake of milk and its associated nutrients. This impact was measured by UC researchers in a study of students' milk selection and consumption in 24 SFUSD middle and high schools during one lunch period at each school during each study year. The study included 3,158 students in 2016 before the policy and 2,966 students after the policy was implemented in 2018. Study results showed that after chocolate milk was removed, milk taking at lunch declined, but average per-student intake of key nutrients from milk did not. In addition, students' intake of added sugars from milk declined significantly. The study suggests that removing chocolate milk from school cafeterias may improve student nutrition. The research brief encourages schools to consider eliminating chocolate milk to help reduce students' added sugar intake. The study was conducted in collaboration with researchers at the UC NPI, UC Berkeley School of Public Health and Berkeley Food Institute, and SFUSD Student Nutrition Services. This work is supported by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative grant no. 2015-68001-23236 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The research brief is available online. The full research study is also available online.

Nutrition Policy Institute's (NPI) Lorrene Ritchie was awarded $50,000 from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to examine participant perceptions and satisfaction with the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project will survey over 6,000 participants in WIC in 11 U.S. states and one tribal organization about their experiences with WIC during the pandemic. The project aims to support efforts to increase participation and retention on WIC by identifying promising practices adopted during the pandemic. Collaborators include the National WIC Association, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Public Health Foundation Enterprise WIC, Pepperdine University, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, California WIC Association, Nourish California, Vermont WIC, and Wisconsin WIC. The one-year project begins February 1, 2021 with NPI researcher Danielle Lee as the project manager.

Approximately 2 of every 3 children in the US spend time in child care settings where they consume much of their daily nutrition. Improving the foods and beverages offered in child care settings is a known childhood obesity prevention strategy. Researchers at the Nutrition Policy Institute published a new study suggesting family child care home providers can successfully implement nutrition standards for infants and young children after completing a brief educational intervention. Family child care homes are of particular interest for obesity prevention efforts given few nutrition standards exist in California's childcare licensing regulations for these providers, and limited studies have been conducted in these settings. The pilot study included 30 licensed family child care home providers in California who spoke English or Spanish. Providers were enrolled to participate in a 2-hour in-person training on food and beverage standards and feeding practices for both infants and children in English or Spanish in 2017. Providers' adherence to the infant and child nutrition standards increased after the training, and few providers rated the standards as difficult to implement. The training was highly rated by providers. The study was published in January 2021 in the journal Global Pediatric Health. Study results are also available online in the form of a research brief. Co-authors include Lorrene Ritchie, Danielle Lee, and Klara Gurzo of the Nutrition Policy Institute, Victoria Keeton and Abbey Alkon of the UCSF School of Nursing and California Childcare Health Program, Lauren Au of the UC Davis Department of Nutrition, and Elyse Homel Vitale of the Child Care Food Program Roundtable, previously with Nourish California at the time the study was conducted. The study was funded by a grant from the David & Lucille Packard Foundation.