Maintaining Nutrition Security and Diet Quality: The Role of the Food Stamp Program and WIC

Family Economics and Nutrition Review, Wntr, 1998 by P. Peter Basiotis, Carol S. Kramer-LeBlanc, Eileen T. Kennedy

To examine relationships between diet quality and food program participation, we use USDA's 1989-91 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII) to analyze how the diet quality of low-income households is affected by participation in the Food Stamp Program (FSP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). The measure of diet quality used is the USDA Healthy Eating Index (HEI), developed to assess the overall quality of individuals' diets, defined as the degree of adherence to Federal nutritional guidance (12,22). The Index consists of 10 equally weighted components that reflect how well individual diets conform to both the 1995 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (26) and the USDA Food Guide Pyramid (25) recommendations. Use of this index permits us to ex amine changes in diet quality associated with program benefits that may involve consuming less of particular dietary components and more of others.

For the first time, this article reports how responsive the HEI and its individual components are to participation in the FSP and WIC. To provide a context for the analysis that follows, we briefly describe the FSP and WIC within the framework of Federal food assistance. We then mention pertinent elements of welfare reform and food assistance program changes to indicate how legislative provisions may affect food assistance program participants. We present methods and results and discuss implications.

Overview and Background on Food Programs and Welfare Reform Context

The United States has a longstanding commitment to supporting food and nutrition security. Fourteen domestic food assistance programs comprise the formal Federal food and nutrition safety net and provide low-income consumers with foods, or with expanded means to purchase food products, along with nutrition information and education (table 1, p. 6).

Table 1. Federal food assistance programs

    Program name            Year         FY 1996 budget
                            begun        (in millions)

National School Lunch        1945            $4,313
 Program

Special Milk Program        1955               $16.8

Food Stamp Program       1961 pilot        $24,330
                       1974 permanent

Nutrition Program
 for the Elderly            1965              $150

School Breakfast
 Program                 1966 pilot         $1,118
                       1975 permanent

Summer Food Service
 Program                    1968              $258

Commodity
 Supplemental Food
 Program                    1968              $100.2

Special Supplemental
 Program for Women,
 Infants, and
 Children (WIC)          1972 pilot         $3,730
                       1974 permanent

Child and Adult Care
 Food Program            1975 pilot         $1,553
                       1978 permanent
                         1989 adults

Food Distribution
 Program on Indian
 Reservations               1977               $70

The Emergency Food
 Assistance Program         1981               $44

Nutrition Assistance
 Program for Puerto
 Rico                       1981            $1,153

Homeless Children
 Program                    1989                $3

WIC Farmers Market
 Nutrition Program          1992                $7
                                         (of WIC total)

    Program name           FY 1996
                        Participation

National School Lunch   24,050,000
 Program                bunches per
                        day

Special Milk Program   144,246,000
                        total served

Food Stamp Program     25,540,000
                        recipients per
                        month

Nutrition Program
 for the Elderly       245,979,000
                        total meals

School Breakfast
 Program               6,103,000 daily
                        average
                        breakfast
                        served

Summer Food Service
 Program               2,216,000 daily
                        average
                        attendance
                        (July)

Commodity
 Supplemental Food
 Program               357,000 average
                        participation

Special Supplemental
 Program for Women,
 Infants, and
 Children (WIC)        Average
                        participation
                        1,648,000
                        (women)
                        1,827,000
                        (infants)
                        3,712,000
                        (children)

Child and Adult Care
 Food Program          2,343,000
                        August average
                        1,546,171,000
                        total meals served

Food Distribution
 Program on Indian
 Reservations          120,000 average

The Emergency Food
 Assistance Program    40,899,000
                        total pounds
                        distributed

Nutrition Assistance
 Program for Puerto
 Rico                  Not Available

Homeless Children
 Program               Not Available

WIC Farmers Market
 Nutrition Program     742,000 Federal
                       364,000
                        Non-Federal