The WIC Nutrition Education Study (NEST) provides detailed information on WIC nutrition education services and includes the following two phases:

-- Phase I: Comprehensive nationally representative description of WIC nutrition education processes and features.

-- Phase II: Pilot study of the impact of WIC nutrition education on nutrition and other behaviors in six WIC sites.

This report presents the Phase I results of the study.

This study updates a 2009 analysis of the nutrient and food group content of the USDA Foods offered and delivered through federal nutrition assistance programs. The study also estimated the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores under the HEI-2010 and the HEI-2005 scoring systems for each program’s benefits.

This report responds to the charge in the explanatory statement of Chairman Obey, entered into the Congressional Record Feb. 23, 2009, regarding the request from Congress in the conference report for the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 (PL 111–8). The conference report included the following directive: