Revisions to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) may offer downstream child health benefits, such as increased length-for-age z scores and improved infant cognitive development, according to a study published in Pediatrics. Researchers obtained data from 1,222 women and children enrolled in a study from 2006 to 2011. Measures of growth and cognitive and socioemotional development were compared between WIC recipients and nonrecipients before and after policy revision using a quasiexperimental difference-in-differences analysis. The researchers found that among infants whose mothers received the revised WIC food package during pregnancy, length-for-age z scores at 12 months were higher and Bayley Scales of Infant Development cognitive composite scores at 24 months were higher (ß = 0.33 and 4.34, respectively) compared with the scores for infants of mothers who did not receive the revised WIC food package. No effects were observed on growth at age 24 months or age 4-6 years or on cognitive development at age 4-6 years.
