WIC is updating its menu

As food prices and the ranks of the nation's poor continue to increase, the federal nutrition program for low-income mothers and children is being revised for the first time in more than three decades.

The Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, program – which serves 1.4 million Californians each month – announced earlier this month it will place more emphasis on fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and has given states 18 months to implement the changes.

At the same time, the 35-year-old program is cutting back on dairy and egg products, whose costs have skyrocketed in the past year as the price of milk jumped 20 percent nationally and eggs went up 35 percent.

Federal and state officials say the revisions are more in line with modern dietary guidelines and were not prompted by cost-cutting measures that have prompted states such as Utah to substitute beans for peanut butter, for example, and limit eligibility.

"When the program was developed in the 1970s, iron deficiency and anemia were big problems, along with short stature and underweight infants," said Linnea Sallack, who runs the WIC program for the California Department of Public Health. "Over the years, the issues have reversed and we're now dealing with overweight infants and overconsumption."

Nutrition experts say a growing number of poor Americans are "overweight but undernourished" – a trend that begins in infancy.

WIC's goal is to improve the health of participants during critical times of development through nutrition education, including breast-feeding promotion, and supplemental foods that are high in protein or iron.

Until Congress passed an omnibus spending bill last week that President Bush has indicated he will sign, California and other states were preparing to ration WIC benefits.

Sallack said that won't be necessary now because the legislation assures that WIC will be funded at current levels nationwide.

California accounts for more than 1 in 8 of WIC recipients nationwide – and demand has nearly tripled since 1990, a trend that county officials say has been fueled by rising food costs.

Teri Duarte, director of the Sacramento County WIC program, said the county caseload has grown 30 percent to 29,000 in the past three years.

"We're serving everyone who's eligible, but we couldn't if everyone who is eligible applied," Duarte said. "We're only serving 55 percent of the eligible population."

WIC serves pregnant women, mothers of babies up to a year old, and children up to age 5 in families with incomes up to 185 percent of poverty level – $38,203 for a family of four.

Mike Herald, a lobbyist for the Western Center on Law and Poverty, said the slowing economy in California and the foundering housing market have increased evictions and is forcing more people to turn to government aid.

"As (public) dollars get tight, it's going to be a challenge to serve people in programs like WIC," said Herald, who noted that the state was forced to cap enrollment in the program during previous economic downturns.

Karen Farley, program manager for the California WIC Association, which works with many of the 82 agencies that run the program in the state, noted that WIC depends on discretionary funding.

"It's not an entitlement, which makes it a challenge in times like this because of the nose-dive in the economy and rising food costs," Farley said.

The United States already ranks last among 31 developed countries in terms of the percentage of children and families living in poverty, according to a recent multinational study of household income called the Luxembourg Income Study.

Moreover, the percentage of the severely poor – individuals or families earning less than half of the federally established poverty-line income – grew by 16 percent from 2000 to 2006, according to the Census Bureau.

WIC, which has a history of bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, long has been praised for reducing medical costs and assisting the growth and development of children once they enter schools.

Recipients currently receive vouchers for specific foods, averaging about $39 a month in 2007, which they can redeem at contracting grocery stores.

Under the revisions, vouchers for fruits and vegetables will be $6 for children, $8 for women and $10 for fully breast-feeding women.

The new WIC food package will include tortillas, brown rice and other whole grains, soy beverages, tofu, fruits and vegetables, canned salmon, sardines and mackerel.

The package will encourage more mothers to breast-feed, reduce formula and delay complementary foods, and eliminate juices, which are high in sugar.

Only skim or low-fat milk will be authorized for women and children up to 2 years of age. Medical documentation will be required for children to receive soy-based beverage and tofu as alternatives to milk.

According to the Institute of Medicine, the changes hold potential for improving the nutrition and health of low-income pregnant women, new mothers, infants and young children.

Sacramento County officials – who run the program out of offices in the Florin-Meadowview area, Oak Park, Del Paso Heights and Rancho Cordova areas – welcome the changes.

"We're very excited," Duarte said. "We know that sweet juices, for example, cause obesity. The new food package will help us walk the talk. Our challenge is to meet the demand."

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• Call Aurelio Rojas, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5545.