What factors influence ultra-processed food purchases and consumption in households with children? A comparison between participants and non-participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

Appetite ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 134 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alyssa J. Moran ◽  
Neha Khandpur ◽  
Michele Polacsek ◽  
Eric B. Rimm
Keyword(s):  
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ◽  
Processed Food ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition ◽  
Assistance Program ◽  
Food Purchases ◽  
Households With Children ◽  
Nutrition Assistance

scholarly journals Does Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Reduce Food Insecurity among Households with Children? Evidence from the Current Population Survey

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 3178
Author(s):  
Jun Zhang ◽  
Yanghao Wang ◽  
Steven T. Yen
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Current Population Survey ◽  
Population Survey ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition ◽  
Assistance Program ◽  
Current Population ◽  
Households With Children ◽  
Nutrition Assistance

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is designed to improve household diet and food security—a pressing problem confronting low-income families in the United States. Previous studies on the issue often ignored the methodological issue of endogenous program participation. We revisit this important issue by estimating a simultaneous equation system with ordinal household food insecurity. Data are drawn from the 2009–2011 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement (CPS-FSS), restricted to SNAP-eligible households with children. Our results add to the stocks of empirical findings that SNAP participation ameliorates food insecurity among adults only, but increases the probabilities of low and very low food security among children. These contradictory results indicate that our selection approach with a single cross section is only partially successful, and that additional efforts are needed in further analyses of this complicated issue, perhaps with longitudinal data. Socio-demographic variables are found to affect food-secure households and food-insecure households differently, but affect SNAP nonparticipants and participants in the same direction. The state policy tools, such as broad-based categorical eligibility (BBCE) and simplified reporting, can encourage SNAP participation and thus ameliorate food insecurity. Our findings can inform policy deliberations.

scholarly journals Nutritional quality of retail food purchases is not associated with participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for nutrition-oriented households

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0240263
Author(s):  
Yu Chen ◽  
Biing‐Hwan Lin ◽  
Lisa Mancino ◽  
Michele Ver Ploeg ◽  
Chen Zhen
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Nutritional Quality ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ◽  
Healthy Foods ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition ◽  
Assistance Program ◽  
Food Purchases ◽  
Quality Of Food ◽  
Nutrition Assistance

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides millions of low-income Americans food benefits and other forms of nutrition assistance. Evidence indicates that SNAP reduces food insecurity. However, there is a concern that the food benefit may increase the demand for less healthy foods more than healthier foods, thereby reducing the overall nutritional quality of the participant’s food basket. This paper aims to examine the association of SNAP participation with the nutritional quality of food-at-home purchases of low-income households and to investigate the potential heterogeneity among consumers with different levels of nutrition attitude. This analysis used food purchase data from the USDA National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS). Our study sample included 2,218 low-income households, of which 1,184 are SNAP participants, and 1,034 are income-eligible nonparticipants. Multivariate regressions were performed to explore the SNAP-nutritional quality association. A household’s nutrition attitude was measured using its response to a question on whether the household searched for nutrition information online in the last 2 months. Households that affirmed they had an online nutrition search were treated as nutrition-oriented households (21.2% of the low-income sample), and households that did not were considered less nutrition-oriented households (78.8%). For robustness, we also created an alternative nutrition attitude measure based on reported use of the nutrition facts label. We found that among less nutrition-oriented households, SNAP participants had a statistically significant 0.097 points (p = 0.018) lower Guiding Stars rating than low-income nonparticipants. However, there was no significant SNAP-nutritional quality association among nutrition-oriented households. In conclusion, SNAP participation was associated with lower nutritional quality of food purchases among less nutrition-oriented households, but not among nutrition-oriented households. The results suggest that the intended nutritional benefits of restrictions on purchases of healthy foods may not reach the subgroup of nutrition-oriented SNAP participants.

Predictors of Farmers’ Market Shopping among People Receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Benefits

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 488-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darcy A. Freedman ◽  
Eunlye Lee ◽  
Punam Ohri-Vachaspati ◽  
Erika Trapl ◽  
Elaine Borawski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ◽  
Supplemental Nutrition ◽  
Assistance Program ◽  
Farmers Market ◽  
Program Benefits ◽  
Nutrition Assistance
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