WIC Would Add Vegetables, Fruits
More vegetables, fruits, and whole grains would be available to beneficiaries of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, under a proposal issued last month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Based in large part on the findings of Institute of Medicine report published last year, the proposed rules would promote greater consistency with established dietary guidelines for infants and children under age 2 years, and would better support breast-feeding, according to USDA. Current WIC-covered foods help increase beneficiaries' intake of protein, iron, calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin C—nutrients that were found lacking in the WIC population when the program was started in 1974, USDA said. The department is taking comments until Nov. 6.