Buying "junk food" with SNAP?

A recent Harvard School of Public Health study says that SNAP doesn’t help poor Americans improve their diets and nutritional “food security.” The study found no appreciable improvement in dietary quality among SNAP participants in the months after they began receiving benefits. And it found that SNAP beneficiaries ate significantly more refined grains compared to poor Americans without food stamps. These types of grains can be risk factors for diabetes and obesity. It isn’t surprising that SNAP recipients turn to these products. From a nutritional standpoint, refined grains and other less healthy foods have more caloric bang-for-the-buck than fresh and healthy options.

Policy experiments both in the U.S. and internationally have shown that incentives can work to nudge SNAP participants away from refined grains and towards fruits and leafy greens. A South African program that gave 260,000 households up to a 25% rebate on healthy food purchases led beneficiaries to eat about 50% more servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Rebate recipients were also more likely to eat three or more servings of wholegrain foods per day and less likely to eat foods high in sugar, salt, fried foods, processed meats, and fast food. SNAP participants in the U.S. Healthy Incentives Program who got a 30% discount on healthy food ended up eating 25% more vegetables.

Source:  Think Progress, 11/25/13, Healthier Foods on SNAP

 

Few on either side of the debate to cut SNAP want to touch the conclusions of a report last year by Oakland (CA) public health activist Michele Simon, who called food stamps the "the largest, most overlooked corporate subsidy in the farm bill" and urged Congress to limit the use of government assistance to buy unhealthy food. Her report set off a backlash among advocates for the poor that proved so divisive that many public-health groups refused to take a position on the issue. The food industry fiercely opposes nutrition standards. House Republicans adopted almost the entire SNAP plank of the conservative Heritage Foundation, except for a ban on junk food. The one area where most factions agree is that SNAP recipients should have incentives to buy more nutritious foods. Some programs pioneered by private groups, such as Wholesome Wave in Connecticut, double food stamp benefits for purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers' markets.

Source: SFGate, 12/5/13, Junk Food