{"id":3813,"date":"2021-08-11T21:41:34","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T01:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalfoodresearchprogram.org\/?p=3813"},"modified":"2025-05-18T19:31:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T23:31:25","slug":"supersnap-helps-food-insecure-households-afford-healthy-foods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globalfoodresearchprogram.org\/supersnap-helps-food-insecure-households-afford-healthy-foods\/","title":{"rendered":"SuperSNAP helps food-insecure households afford healthy foods"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"SuperSNAPFood insecurity is associated with a less healthy diet. While participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program<\/strong><\/a> (SNAP \u2014 formerly known as food stamps) is known to reduce food insecurity, beneficiaries may still struggle to afford enough healthy foods. To address the cost of healthy food to improve health outcomes for SNAP recipients, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture sponsored the creation of SuperSNAP<\/strong><\/a>, a program which provides SNAP beneficiaries an additional $40 per month for the purchase of fruits and vegetables with no added sugar, sodium, or fat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studied the effects of SuperSNAP, which is run in North Carolina through Reinvestment Partners<\/strong><\/a> of Durham, NC, to see if the additional funds translated into purchases of more healthful foods, setting the stage for better health outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published in JAMA Network Open<\/em>, the study<\/strong><\/a> found that in the first eight months of the program, SuperSNAP participants not only bought more healthy foods with the extra $40, but they also markedly increased their total purchase of healthier foods with SNAP benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur goal now is to see if healthy food incentive programs improve health outcomes,\u201d said first author Seth A. Berkowitz, MD, MPH<\/a>, <\/strong>assistant professor of general medicine and epidemiology at the UNC School of Medicine. \u201cWe will investigate this very soon through a much larger study.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Berkowitz, along with senior author Shu Wen Ng, PhD<\/a>,<\/strong> Distinguished Scholar in the Department of Nutrition at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and the UNC School of Medicine, and their colleagues used data from transaction records of a large supermarket chain with approximately 500 stores located across North Carolina from October 2019 to April 2020. All participants were SNAP beneficiaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Shu<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cCOVID-19 has created even more challenges for lower-income households to access healthful foods. By providing these targeted benefits specific to fruits and vegetables without additives, it is possible to meaningfully support families wanting to eat better, particularly during economically challenging times.”<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 SHU WEN NG<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The researchers analyzed monthly spending on all fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts; spending on less healthy food categories; and spending on sugar-sweetened beverages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study included 667 SuperSNAP participants and 33,246 SNAP beneficiaries who did not use SuperSNAP but shopped in the same stores; 436 SuperSNAP participants had pre-intervention data and were included in the main analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SuperSNAP participation was significantly associated with:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n