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About 40% of infants in the U.S. are served by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). For FNS, Westat recently completed the WIC Nutrition Assessment and Tailoring Study (WIC NATS), which provides a comprehensive account of how WIC clinics assess client nutritional needs and use the information to tailor program benefits.
WIC staff tailor benefits in various ways, including tailoring infant formula prescriptions based on breastfeeding assessments and making allowable substitutions to the food package based on medical diagnoses, food preferences, and cultural and religious beliefs. Nutrition education can also be tailored to client needs. While WIC participants rated the services they received highly, many indicated that they would like to see the program expand allowable food package tailoring. In line with these results, the recently published Final Rule: Revisions in the WIC Food Packages (2024) has expanded food package substitutions based on cultural preferences,
“Benefit tailoring ensures the nutritional support provided by WIC is more effective and responsive to the diverse needs of its clients, ultimately enhancing the health and well-being of women, infants, and children across the nation,” notes Westat’s Mary Gabay, MS, the lead author.