Impact of Policy Changes on Gestational Weight Gain among Low-Income Pregnant Women Participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children

Objective: This study will assess the impact of the new WIC food package, implemented in October 2009, on gestational weight gain among pregnant WIC participants in Southern California. 

Methods: Data from 5 years before the introduction of the new food packages through 5 years after will be analyzed using SAS 9.3. For this analysis, we will examine women who gained excess weight during pregnancy relative to pre-pregnancy weight, according to the current 2009 IOM recommendations, vs. women who gained within the IOM recommended ranges. We will compute frequencies and run a two-sample t-test to compare proportions of women with excessive gestational weight gain before the recent changes to the WIC food package (September 2004-March 2009) and after the recent revisions to the WIC food package (October 2009-March 2014). We will use multiple logistic regression to examine the association between the recent changes to the WIC food package and the odds of excessive gestational weight gain while controlling for possible confounding variables.

Implications: Excessive weight gain during pregnancy has been shown to increase the risk of childhood obesity. Since WIC is in a unique position to reach its participants during pregnancy, the new food packages offer great promise in the fight against obesity. Findings from this study will inform policy makers on the impact of the recent revisions to the WIC food packages and will be valuable for understanding the potential of these changes to reduce long-term obesity-related health care costs.