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Researchers estimated that the 2009 update to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) was cost-effective for preventing childhood obesity, according to a study published in Pediatrics. Erica L. Kenney, ScD, MPH, and colleagues determined the impact of the 2009 WIC food package change on obesity risk for participating children aged 2-4 from 2010-2019. The researchers estimated cases of obesity prevented in 2019 and costs per quality-adjusted life year gained. The updated standards reached about 14 million children from 2010-2019. The authors estimated that 62,700 cases of childhood obesity were prevented in 2019, all in children from households with low incomes, thereby improving health equity. Per quality life-year gained, the update was estimated to cost $10,600. More than twice as many cases of childhood obesity would have been prevented if WIC had reached all eligible children. “WIC’s beneficial impact could be expanded by identifying strategies to increase enrollment and improve retention in the program,” Dr. Kenney and colleagues wrote.
