# Assessing Impact of Federal Nutrition Programs on Health Outcomes

> **NIH NIH R03** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2020 · $78,511

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
 The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) is the third
largest federal nutrition assistance program in the United States. Established in 1972, it serves low-
income pregnant and postpartum women and children ages 0-5 years who are at nutritional risk. WIC
costs nearly $6 b, and served about 8 m pregnant and post-partum women and young children in
2016. Despite WIC's wide reach and long history, there is a dearth of evidence supporting the impact
of WIC on the health and well-being of its participants and on societal costs. A few studies have
examined the impact of prenatal participation in WIC on pregnancy outcomes, and even fewer studies
have examined the impact of WIC on the nutritional status, and growth and development of young
children.
 One of the greatest barriers to strengthening the evidence base for WIC's impact is the lack of
availability of a scientifically appropriate comparison group, especially among infants and children.
Such a comparison group would allow for the design and implementation of a rigorous scientific study
(a randomized controlled trial). The proposed study will take advantage of an unusual opportunity to
merge a unique database of Los Angeles (LA) County WIC participants with a comparable database
of Kaiser Permanente (KP) patients to form such a comparison group. KP is one the largest health-
care providers in California, and about 25% of KP patients are on Medi-Cal (California's Medicaid
program). By merging these two databases, and developing an innovative approach for identifying
WIC-eligible Kaiser patients who are not enrolled in WIC, we will attempt to create a scientifically
rigorous comparison group for future evaluations of the impact of the WIC program on young children.
To assess the validity of this comparison group (and the protocol developed for forming it), we will
survey a randomly selected sample of KP patients to determine if the protocol we develop is
adequately sensitive and specific. We will focus on children ages 2-5 years because there is a dearth
of evaluation research on the impact of WIC on child growth and development. The findings of this
study will have implications for future funding decisions affecting programs that support the growth,
development and nutritional status of children from disadvantaged families.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9921434
- **Project number:** 5R03HD096087-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** May C Wang
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $78,511
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-05-01 → 2022-09-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9921434

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9921434, Assessing Impact of Federal Nutrition Programs on Health Outcomes (5R03HD096087-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-01 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9921434. Licensed CC0.

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