The Prevalence of Childhood Obesity before and after Changes in WIC Food Packages :

In 2009, the US Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) changed the contents of their food packages for families who were food insecure and began to provide extra cash allowances for such things as more vegetables and fruits while cutting the amount of juice allowed in half, requiring low-fat or skim versus whole milk, reducing cheese, and requiring whole grain rather than refined grain products. The goal of these changes was to stop the rising trends in childhood obesity. So did this work?  Daepp et al. (10.1542/peds.2018-2841) looked into this question with repeated cross-sectional measurements of state-specific obesity prevalence in children in the WIC program from 2000 to 2014.  The results, as shared in this new study being released this month in Pediatrics showed that the rising trend in obesity stopped in 2009, the year of the WIC package changes, and then reversed itself. You can see what happened in your state since the authors included as a supplement all individual state trends during the 15 years studied.  While the authors adjusted for some risk factors associated with obesity, this cross-sectional study cannot prove causality but suggests that the reversal of the obesity trends at a national level in 2009 is more than a coincidence with the change in WIC packaging.  What do you think?  There is plenty of food for thought to consider so at least congratulate the WIC program for having the wherewithal to make the changes they did. While we cannot say they caused the reversal, it’s good that they are at least associated with the promising trend.  Link to this study and learn more.