TYPE Original Research PUBLISHED 29 September 2022 DOI 10.3389/fpubh.2022.986330 OPEN ACCESS EDITED BY Jessica Sophia Gubbels, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Netherlands REVIEWED BY Tonia Vassilakou, University of West Attica, Greece Alan Preston, Ciencia Puerto Rico (CienciaPR), Puerto Rico *CORRESPONDENCE Cristina Palacios cristina.palacios@fiu.edu SPECIALTY SECTION This article was submitted to Children and Health, a section of the journal Frontiers in Public Health RECEIVED 05 July 2022 ACCEPTED 12 September 2022 PUBLISHED 29 September 2022 CITATION Macchi AK, Banna J, Moreira S, Campos M and Palacios C (2022) Effect of a Short Messaging Service (SMS) intervention delivered to caregivers on energy, nutrients, and food groups intake in infant participants of the WIC program. Front. Public Health 10:986330. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.986330 COPYRIGHT © 2022 Macchi, Banna, Moreira, Campos and Palacios. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Effect of a Short Messaging Service (SMS) intervention delivered to caregivers on energy, nutrients, and food groups intake in infant participants of the WIC program Alison K. Macchi 1 , Jinan Banna 2 , Stephanie Moreira 2 , Maribel Campos 3 and Cristina Palacios 1 * 1 Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, FL, United States, 2 Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, United States, 3 Center for Community Outreach for Health Across the Lifespan (COHeAL), University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR, United States Objectives: To test the effect of a weekly test message (SMS) intervention for improving feeding practices on infant intake of energy, nutrients, and specific food groups. Methods: This study was a multi-site, randomized clinical trial, in 202 caregivers of healthy term infants participating in either the Puerto Rico or Hawaii WIC program. Participants were randomized to receive weekly SMS about either infant’s general health issues (control) or SMS for improving feeding practices (intervention) to complement WIC messages for 4 months. Anthropometrics and demographics were assessed at baseline. A validated infant food frequency questionnaire was assessed at the four-month visit to assess intake of general food groups. Data was summarized as median (25th and 75th percentiles) or percentage and differences between study arms was compared using Mann Whitney or chi-square. Results: A total of 163 participants completed the study (n = 84 control and n = 79 intervention). Baseline characteristics were similar between both groups. At 4–6 months of age, compared to the control group, the intervention group had a significantly higher intake of total grains (0.28 oz; 0.00, 0.60; P = 0.033), protein (13.5 g, 10.5, 18.3; P = 0.022), calcium (472 mg; 418, 667; P = 0.012), and zinc (4.39 mg; 2.61, 6.51; P = 0.028). No differences were seen in the other food groups, including breastmilk. Conclusions for practice: Feeding SMS to complement WIC messages led to higher intakes of some key nutrients but did not have an overall improvement in the intake of food groups. Messaging also did not delay the introduction of complimentary foods or improve breastfeeding rates. Future studies should evaluate the use of more intensive SMS interventions for continued care between WIC visits. KEYWORDS Short Message Service (SMS), intervention, infant, energy consumption, nutrient intake, food groups and beverages consumption Frontiers in Public Health 01 frontiersin.org