The Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides food assistance to low-income women, infants, and children who are nutritionally or medically at risk. Launched in 1974, WIC provides supplemental food, nutrition education, and access to health services. Support for WIC has grown along with increasing evidence that the program's benefits to public health exceed its costs. For example, WIC's share of food assistance expenditures grew to 8 percent in 1991 from 5 percent in 1980. Average monthly participation in 1991 was over 250 percent higher than in 1980 (table 1).