Child and Adult Care Food Program Associated

 with Better Nutrition

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a federal program that provides reimbursement for healthful meals and snacks served to children and adults. The CACFP was established by Congress in 1968 to ensure children  were receiving nutritious meals and today it is funded under section 17 of the  National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1766). CACFP operates in child care centers, Head Start programs, after school care sites, emergency shelters, adult day care centers, and licensed or registered home day cares. 

A study the June 2012 issue of Childhood Obesity looked at foods and beverages served to 2-5 year-olds by type of child care and participation in CACFP. The study conducted in California surveyed child care providers on the foods served to children and compared the nutrition environments of non-CACFP and CACFP participants. The results of the study showed that CACFP sites served more fruits, vegetables, and milk and served fewer sweetened beverages. 

References:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22799548
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/care/CACFP/aboutcacfp.htm
http://www.nutritionnc.com/snp/historyc.htm

2012 Farm Bill and WIC

This year Congress was set to pass a new "farm bill", a federal legislation enacted every five to seven years that sets the general direction for America’s farm and food policy. There are two versions (House and Senate) of the 2012 "farm bill" that have yet to be passed by Congress. The current bill has already expired (expired Sept 30th) and the proposed bills may not provide enough support for WIC one of the most important food assistance programs funded under the "farm bill." 

The House version of the bill, known as the House Fiscal Year 2012 Agriculture Appropriations Bill, passed in the House on July 16th, 2012. This bill includes cuts in funding for WIC which "would force the program to turn away more than 700,000 eligible low-income women and young children." 

The Senate version of the bill, known as the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012, provides more funding for WIC than the House bill but it may not be enough. If food costs and participation rates remain the same, then the Senate bill would be adequate to avoid turning away eligible participants. However, with the recent rise in food costs especially for milk (a staple food for WIC) this funding will not meet the needs of WIC participants. 

For more information follow the link below:

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3499

 Breastfeeding is Best

Research has shown breast milk is the best food you can provide to your baby for their first year of life. Breastfeeding not only provides health and nutritional benefits but it is also inexpensive. Knowing this, the government funded program, WIC, made changes to improve breastfeeding rates but according to a report published in July the program changes were unsuccessful.  

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, better known as WIC, is a government funded program whose goal is to improve the nutritional status of women and their children. WIC is a program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) that provides food packages, nutrition education, and referrals to low income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children (up to age 5). 

In 2004, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) examined the food packages provided by WIC to determine if redesigning the food packages could further improve the nutritional status of WIC participants. From the suggestions made by the IOM, USDA published an Interim Rule changing the composition and quantities of foods in the food packages offered to new mothers. The intent of this change was to encourage mothers to choose breastfeeding for their infants. 

The report published in July determined that the changes implemented by WIC were unsuccessful at increasing the rate of women breastfeeding their babies. The report concluded that

An objective of the policy changes was to encourage adoption of the full breastfeeding package and to promote breastfeeding. However, the changes in package options could, in principle, have multiple effects. First, even if infant feeding choices are predetermined or fixed, the policy change could have a reclassification effect that leads fewer cases to be assigned partial breastfeeding status and more cases to be assigned full formula status, without greatly influencing actual breastfeeding behaviors in either direction. A mother who relies principally on infant formula, supplemented by breastfeeding, could have been classified as partial breastfeeding before implementation and full formula after implementation. In this case, there would have been a change in package assignments without large effects on breastfeeding outcomes…

In essence, the new program forced women to choose full bottle feeding or full breastfeeding and reduced the number of women trying to do both. 

This is an example of a policy change that did not meet the intended outcome. What policy changes could be made in order to encourage WIC participants to choose breastfeeding over formula? 

Sources:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/WIC-Fact-Sheet.pdf

http://www.fns.usda.gov/Ora/menu/Published/WIC/FILES/BirthMonth_ExecSummary.pdf

http://www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2005/WIC-Food-Packages-Time-for-a-Change/wic8pagerwithtables.pdf