Incentives for Healthy Eating
A little extra purchasing power at the grocery seems to help promote better diets for people on public assistance
Incentives for Healthy Eating
A little extra purchasing power at
the grocery seems to help promote better diets for people on public assistance
By: Clare Leschin-Hoar
January 29, 2016
Very few of us eat enough fruits and
vegetables, and for the more than 47 million Americans who participate in the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food
stamps, that number is a bit smaller still.
But what if healthy fruits and
vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive
for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little
over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to
the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest
yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of
Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other
proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still
helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child
Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to
protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also
is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in
competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and
Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden
County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given
an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a
targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended,
Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It
bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a
day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A
quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say
it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the
overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did
not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
- See more at: http://now.tufts.edu/articles/incentives-healthy-eating?utm_content=buffer8a811&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#sthash.gFQlWxpm.dpuf
January 29, 2016
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Very
few of us eat enough fruits and vegetables, and for the more than 47
million Americans who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, that number is
a bit smaller still.
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
January 29, 2016
Very
few of us eat enough fruits and vegetables, and for the more than 47
million Americans who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, that number is
a bit smaller still.
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
January 29, 2016
Very
few of us eat enough fruits and vegetables, and for the more than 47
million Americans who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, that number is
a bit smaller still.
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
January 29, 2016
Very
few of us eat enough fruits and vegetables, and for the more than 47
million Americans who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, that number is
a bit smaller still.
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
January 29, 2016
Very
few of us eat enough fruits and vegetables, and for the more than 47
million Americans who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, that number is
a bit smaller still.
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
January 29, 2016
Very
few of us eat enough fruits and vegetables, and for the more than 47
million Americans who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, that number is
a bit smaller still.
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
January 29, 2016
Very
few of us eat enough fruits and vegetables, and for the more than 47
million Americans who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, that number is
a bit smaller still.
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
Very
few of us eat enough fruits and vegetables, and for the more than 47
million Americans who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, that number is
a bit smaller still.
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
- See more at: http://now.tufts.edu/articles/incentives-healthy-eating?utm_content=buffer8a811&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#sthash.gFQlWxpm.dpuf
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
- See more at: http://now.tufts.edu/articles/incentives-healthy-eating?utm_content=buffer8a811&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#sthash.gFQlWxpm.dpuf
Very
few of us eat enough fruits and vegetables, and for the more than 47
million Americans who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, that number is
a bit smaller still.
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
- See more at: http://now.tufts.edu/articles/incentives-healthy-eating?utm_content=buffer8a811&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#sthash.gFQlWxpm.dpuf
But what if healthy fruits and vegetables, like leafy greens or crisp apples, came with a financial incentive for SNAP participants? Would a tiny bit of extra spending power, just a little over $6 a month, be enough to compel shoppers to move from the snack aisle to the produce bin?
The answer turns out to be a modest yes, according to Parke Wilde, an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He spoke about recent research on this and other proposed SNAP program changes, which aim to promote healthy diets while still helping people get enough to eat, at the White House Conversation on Child Hunger in America on Jan. 27.
“The goal of SNAP, above all, is to protect food security and to prevent hunger,” Wilde said at the event. “It also is to promote dietary quality. And these goals are not at all necessarily in competition with each other.”
In late 2011, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service launched the Healthy Incentives Pilot program in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where more than 5,000 low-income households were given an extra 30 cents for every dollar of SNAP benefits that they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables offered by participating retailers.
When the 12-month program ended, Wilde and researchers at Abt Associates found the incentive had worked. It bumped consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables by almost a quarter cup a day, a 26 percent increase over SNAP participants not enrolled in the pilot. A quarter cup of extra veggies may not sound like much, but the researchers say it’s “large enough to be nutritionally relevant.”
The study also found that the overall calorie intake of participants who ate more fruits and vegetables did not rise—good news for those concerned with obesity rates.
- See more at: http://now.tufts.edu/articles/incentives-healthy-eating?utm_content=buffer8a811&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#sthash.gFQlWxpm.dpuf
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