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Oral Health
Less than half of all 2 and 3-year olds in California (even fewer from low-income families) have ever seen a dentist, as recommended. Check out our
WIC Can Help
page to learn more about
WIC's critical role
in promoting oral health for all families and referral resources like
Denti-Cal
. It was great to see the Denti-Cal program in CWA's 2018 Trade Show!
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Even a Little Exercise is a Mood Booster!
No time for a full workout? Do what you can!
Research shows that people who work out even once a week or for as little as 10 minutes a day tend to be more cheerful than those who never exercise.
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Support CWA without spending anything extra by using
AmazonSmile!
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WIC Funding - Your Call Needed Today!
Last week in the House Agriculture Appropriations subcommittee, WIC FY19 funding was proposed at $6 billion with a $300 million rescission for unspent funds. Compared to FY18, this is a $175 million reduction. Peer counseling funding was held at $60 million, which is unfortunate, as it will not allow expansion of this successful intervention and in reality is a cut, since this funding has been flat for several years. The full House Approps committee will review the subcommittee proposal. On the Senate side, the Approps subcommittee markup is expected today and the full Approps committee markup on Thursday. Advocacy here will focus on funding for WIC at $6.3 billion including full funding for set asides, like breastfeeding peer counselors. ACTION:
Click here
to voice your support for WIC funding! "$6.3 billion for WIC and full funding for set asides, which includes $90 million for breastfeeding peer counseling."
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Farm Bill: Vigilance Needed
Last week the House did not garner the votes needed to pass the
Farm Bill
and another vote is expected, with June 22 being the targeted date. For different reasons, support
votes were withheld
. The conservative Freedom Caucus wanted a vote on the
Goodlatte-McCaul immigration bill
and a number of far-reaching immigration issues addressed before the Farm Bill vote.
A reduction in employment training funding, strict work requirements for SNAP recipients, eliminations of categorical eligibility that would impact children, and other
aspects of the bill
were not acceptable to all Democrats and some Republicans. The Senate's forthcoming version of the bill is expected to be a bi-partisan effort. ACTION: Read this
update
and subscribe to
alerts
from CA Food Policy Advocates, so you can make a call when needed!
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CA Breastpumps Rates Increase: Call Now
CWA is sponsoring a proposal in the State Budget to seek a long overdue rate increase for quality breast pumps in the Medi-Cal Program. There has not been an increase for this durable medical equipment product in over 30 years! Both the Assembly and the Senate are supportive of this proposal, but only the Senate Budget Subcommittee has taken action to adopt $4 million for this proposal. We are engaging in a phone call and letter writing campaign to support the same action in the Assembly. Note: Assembly Budget Subcommittee #1 is meeting at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 24th to close out all "open items." ACTION: Keep those letters and phone calls coming by 8:00am this Thursday! Go to our web site for a link to the sample letter and phone numbers to call, as well as our bill monitor list.
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Resolution to Declare August Breastfeeding Month!
CWA and the CA Breastfeeding Coalition have jointly introduced ACR 234 (Rubio) to declare August 2018 as Breastfeeding Awareness Month in CA. This important resolution will coincide with National Breastfeeding Awareness Month in August. The measure would recognize the unique benefits that breastfeeding provides and would affirm that the State of California should work to ensure that barriers to initiation and continuation of breastfeeding are removed. The measure would also encourage the State Department of Health Care Services, the State Department of Public Health, the Department of Industrial Relations, the California Breastfeeding Coalition, and other stakeholders to work together to explore ways to, among other things, improve women's access to breastfeeding support services in medical, social, and employment settings. Note: Resolutions do not need to be signed into law by the Governor. ACR 234 is currently In the Assembly Health Committee awaiting action.
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Annual Conference - Still on Our Minds
We're so glad hundreds of WIC and public health professionals joined us in San Diego 3 weeks ago for our 26th Annual Conference, and hope you're finding ways to implement what you learned. Check out the fun photos from our
Trade Show photo booth
and on our
Facebook page
or
Instagram
, plus materials from the many great
presentations
. If you attended, don't forget to
complete the evaluation
by May 31; we use it for planning 2019's Conference! ACTION: Have speaker or workshop ideas? Want to be part of next year's planning group?
Email Margaret
if you'd like to volunteer.
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Next Up...Fall Education Events
Mark your calendars, if you haven't already, for our gatherings in the Fall, including a State WIC meeting November 5 & 6 (AM), CWA Education Day November 6 (PM), and Capitol WIC Education Day November 7 (AM). This is an especially great opportunity to network with other directors, supervisors, and managers!
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It's Farmer's Market Season!
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Frozen Produce Often Just as Nutritious as Fresh
Frozen produce is often less-expensive than fresh produce,
and can be more convenient
for families who don't want to inadvertently waste food - the typical American family
tosses out
$1,500 worth of food yearly. Increasingly, one can find healthier alternatives to prepared foods in the frozen food section, including veggie tots, cauliflower rice, and spiralized veggie "pasta." While most people tend to assume that fresh produce is better for them, researchers from UC Davis say that
frozen is usually as good as fresh,
and in some cases better. Frozen produce does lose some nutrients during processing, when it's blanched or steamed, but part of the reason the nutrition holds up well in frozen fruits and vegetables can be explained by how quickly it's frozen after harvest - typically processing facilities are in close proximity to the area where produce is grown, so they are frozen very shortly after harvest.
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Children Taking Fewer Prescribed Drugs
Children and adolescents are
getting fewer prescription drugs
than they did in years past,
thanks in large part to a decrease
in antibiotic use - good news, since experts say that thirty percent of antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary and potentially dangerous. The study is based on data from the
National Health and Nutrition Examination Study
, compared prescription drug use from 1999 to 2002 with prescriptions given in 2011 to 2014, the last period for which data were available. Overall, the proportion of children and teenagers getting prescriptions dropped from about 25 percent to 22 percent. Prescriptions for some drugs increased, such as for treatments for asthma, contraception and attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The survey also noted a large gap in prescription use among children and adolescents who were insured versus those who weren't. Some 23 percent of insured youth had recently taken a prescription of some sort, compared with 10 percent of those who were uninsured.
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Air Pollution Exposure During Pregnancy Puts Kids at Risk
Exposure to air pollution in the womb is
associated with an increased risk
for high blood pressure in childhood, according to a
study
which measured air pollution exposure in 1,293 pregnant women. Findings showed that compared to the one-third of children exposed to the lowest levels, the one-third exposed to the highest were 61 percent more likely to have high blood pressure between ages 3 and 9. Each 5-microgram per cubic meter increase in PM 2.5, (particles small enough to enter the bloodstream and lungs) led to a 46 percent increased risk for pediatric hypertension. The study does not prove cause and effect, but the researchers suggest that air pollution is linked to inflammation in the uterus and placenta, which may help explain the association.
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Some Calories are More Harmful
A recently released review of
research
indicates that saturated fatty acids and sugar sweetened beverages contribute to obesity and cardiovascular disease not solely through caloric impacts, but by compromising metabolic processes.
Research
that also addresses individual metabolisms, lifespan developmental periods, genotypes, and reward responses of the brain, should provide more insight into the resulting pathophysiologies.
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WIC Research to Practice
WIC research is important to all of us! It helps us communicate how WIC works, identify areas of study, improve our practices, and help others understand the importance of WIC. National WIC Association has created
WIC Research to Practice
, a hub for the latest WIC research news, information on research priorities and guidance on conducting research on the program. The 2018 WIC
research needs assessment
and
spring newsletter
are here! Questions? Contact
Georgia Machell
.
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Infant and Toddler Feeding Video Series
1,000 Days launched a series of
videos for parents
on one of the biggest questions parents have: how to introduce solid foods. They are partnering with experts including the CDC and Healthy Eating Research (HER) to provide accessible and evidence-based information about what, when, and how to feed infants and toddlers.
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 ACOG Letter on Fed is Best Foundation
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Breastfeeding Expert Work Group has issued a
Letter to Members
to make them aware of a campaign from the Fed is Best Foundation. The letter states that ACOG believes that parents must have accurate, current, evidence-based information on which to base their infant feeding decisions, not on sensationalized headlines. FIB's inflammatory anecdotes and misleading portrayal of evidence threatens to undermine and confuse mothers about well-established knowledge and breast-feeding protocols. Read more about the letter in the
May ACOG Rounds newsletter
.
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 Public Health Funding Action Tool
The American Public Health Association has launched an
action tool
that makes it easy to communicate your support for funding public health programs and initiatives to your senators and representatives. As Congress begins its work on the FY 2019 appropriations process, Speak for Health and tell your members of Congress to reject the proposed cuts to important public health programs in the president's budget proposal and instead to prioritize public health by building upon the important increased investments in public health provided by Congress in FY 2018.
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