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WIC - Nutrition Risk Requirement

WIC Program applicants must be seen by a health professional such as a physician, nurse, or nutritionist who must determine whether the individual is at nutrition risk. In many cases, this is done in the WIC clinic at no cost to the applicant. However, this information can be obtained from another health professional such as the applicant's physician.

"Nutrition risk" means an individual has medical-based or dietary-based conditions. Examples of medical-based conditions include anemia (low blood levels), underweight, or history of poor pregnancy outcome. A dietary-based condition includes, for example, a poor diet.

At a minimum, the applicant's height and weight must be measured and blood work taken to check for anemia.

An applicant must have at least one of the medical or dietary conditions on the State's list of WIC nutrition risk criteria.

Beginning April 1, 1999, State agencies use WIC nutrition risk criteria from a list established for use in the WIC Program. WIC nutrition risk criteria were developed by FNS in conjunction with State and local WIC agency experts. WIC State agencies are not required to use all of the nutritional risk criteria on the new list. FNS will update the list of criteria, as necessary, when new scientific evidence shows, after review by FNS and other health and nutrition experts, that the condition can be improved by providing WIC program benefits and services.

Federal regulations recognize five major types of nutrition risk for WIC eligibility:

1)  detrimental or abnormal nutritional conditions detectable by biochemical or anthropometric measurements (such as anemia, low maternal weight gain, or inadequate growth in children);

2)  other documented nutritionally related medical conditions (such as nutrient deficiency diseases, some specific obstetrical risks, or gestational diabetes);

3)  dietary deficiencies that impair or endanger health (such as highly restrictive diets, inadequate diet, or inappropriate infant feeding);

4)  conditions that directly affect the nutritional health of a person, including alcoholism or drug abuse; and

5)  conditions that predispose persons to inadequate nutritional patterns or nutritionally related medical conditions, including but not limited to, homelessness and migrancy.

Additional eligibility requirements must also be satisfied.

See also

WIC - Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children - Overview

WIC - Eligibility Requirements

WIC - Income Requirement

WIC - Categorical Requirement

WIC - Residential Requirement

WIC - Participant Benefits

WIC - Contact Information

Source

Information for this topic was drawn from:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/FAQs/FAQ.HTM
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/fanrr27/
http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/howtoapply/eligibilityrequirements.htm

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