IHRP Researchers to Track Effects of WIC Program Changes
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IHRP researchers will evaluate the effects in northern Illinois of recent changes in a federal nutrition program.
On October 1, 2009, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, began covering a limited purchase of healthy foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables for young children, their mothers and pregnant or breastfeeding women.
A team of researchers led by Marian Fitzgibbon, professor of medicine and health policy and administration, will observe the effects of this supplement among 400 low-income families in northern Illinois over 18 months.
The study is supported by the National Cancer Institute with nearly $1 million from the federal economic stimulus program, known as the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009. Preliminary data for this project was collected in spring of 2009 in a study by Fitzgibbon’s co-investigator, Angela Odoms-Young, assistant professor of kinesiology and nutrition.
This change in WIC is the program’s first subsidy of fresh produce, whole grains and soy-based products in its 35-year history.
“It is critical to evaluate if this cash voucher has an impact on the overall dietary intake of low-income families served by WIC,” said Fitzgibbon.
About 295,000 Illinois residents participated in the WIC program in 2008.
In addition to Odoms-Young, Shannon Zenk, assistant professor of nursing, and Michael Berbaum, director of IHRP’s Methodology Research Core, are Fitzgibbon’s co-investigators in this study.