Feature
SNAP helps Americans eat. But can it help them eat better?
Sixty years ago this week, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Food Stamp Act of 1964, making formal—and permanent—a program designed to build a bridge between two groups of people: farmers who had surplus crops, and low-income people who couldn’t afford nutritious food.
It was a cornerstone of Johnson’s War on Poverty and now stands as a crucial part of the United States’s public health infrastructure. While the program, renamed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in 2008, has been highly successful at reducing hunger and poverty, experts say it could do with some health-boosting updates.
The SNAP program now feeds 42 million people each month—about 13 percent of the U.S. population. Forty percent of SNAP recipients are children. Those numbers were even higher after the Great Recession, peaking in 2013 when a record 48 million people—close to one in five U.S. residents—received food stamps. Demand surged again during the pandemic.
But some researchers and advocates argue that the program should do more than help low-income people eat—it should help them eat healthier food.
“It’s not just about filling bellies,” says Sara Bleich, a public health policy professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “It’s filling them with food that will improve their health outcomes and general wellness.”
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Research suggests people who use food stamps are less healthy than people who do not. A 2021 study found SNAP recipients in low-income, urban neighborhoods ate more foods that cause inflammation—a diet linked to cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other health issues—than nonrecipients who lived in the same neighborhoods.
SNAP recipients in the study also consumed fewer anti-inflammatory nutrients like fiber, beta-carotene, magnesium, and vitamin E, says Timothy Ciesielski, a study co-author and an environmental health researcher at Case Western Reserve University. The study suggested that SNAP recipients should be encouraged to eat more anti-inflammatory foods like almonds, black beans, spinach, and sweet potatoes.
Legislators have often proposed that SNAP increase limits on the types of food it can be used to buy, such as junk food. But Craig Gundersen, who co-authored a 2023 research paper on SNAP’s benefit formula, argues that the program should not oversee the food choices of recipients. “It’s not the role of the government to tell people what they can and cannot buy,” says Gundersen, an economist at Baylor University. “But people with SNAP should have information about why a food is bad for you.”
Researchers also argue that neither incentives nor mandates matter if healthy and affordable food is not easily available—for instance, in food deserts.
SNAP is expanding its online shopping capability to give recipients access to more food retailers, says Tameka Owens, the acting administrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, which oversees the program. That’s partly in response to a rapid increase in online shopping during the pandemic. She says about 4 million people a month now use SNAP benefits to buy food online.
The program is also working to improve recipients’ nutrition through education about healthy eating. “We want to provide the knowledge that individuals need to make healthier food choices in accordance with dietary guidelines,” Owens says.
“Along with our suite of nutrition assistance programs, I definitely do see SNAP as part of our public health infrastructure,” she says. “What we do is not just about providing these supplemental funds to help families make ends meet. It’s also making sure that individuals have the tools and resources they need to lead healthier lives.”
Harvard’s Bleich adds, however, that the food stamp program cannot resolve the thorny issues of nutrition. “There’s this tendency to put everything into this one program,” Bleich says. “But SNAP can’t solve everything.”
Perhaps the high expectations come from the program’s longevity. SNAP’s origins date back to smaller food stamp programs that began in 1939 after the Depression prompted a greater concern for the poor. Milo Perkins, the program’s first administrator, described at the time how it was motivated to solve concurrent problems: “We got a picture of a gorge, with farm surpluses on one cliff and under-nourished city folks with outstretched hands on the other. We set out to find a practical way to build a bridge across that chasm.”
In those early days, food stamp recipients exchanged blue and orange government stamps for groceries, a stigmatizing display of poverty at grocery stores. Now SNAP beneficiaries make their purchases using debit cards.
The program has remained politically viable even though it has faced threats to its existence from the beginning. These threats reached a fever pitch in the 1980s after politicians, including President Ronald Reagan, conjured images of the undeserving “welfare queen,” disparaging people who received public assistance and arguing for cuts to food stamps and other programs. Lawmakers still regularly—but unsuccessfully—propose to substantially cut SNAP.
In fact, some say SNAP should expand, because not everyone who is eligible for SNAP benefits gets them. Alfonso Flores-Lagunes, an economist at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, studied racial and ethnic disparities among eligible households whose members got food stamps.
His 2023 study showed that among households eligible for SNAP benefits, only a fraction had enrolled: 53 percent of eligible black households, 49 percent of eligible white households, and 39 percent of eligible Hispanic households.
Only about 30 percent of SNAP-eligible people 65 and older are enrolled in the program, according to the National Council on Aging.
“Some people don’t know that they’re eligible,” Flores-Lagunes says. “Immigrants are afraid of dealing with the government. I think there needs to be more incentives to get people into the program.”
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<p>Studies suggest people who use the program are less healthy than people who don’t.</p>
<p>Written by Leah Samuel</p>
<p>This <a rel="canonical" href="https://harvardpublichealth.org/policy-practice/food-stamps-feed-americans-but-can-they-help-them-eat-better/">article</a> originally appeared in<a href="https://harvardpublichealth.org/">Harvard Public Health magazine</a>. Subscribe to their <a href="https://harvardpublichealth.org/subscribe/">newsletter</a>.</p>
<p class="has-drop-cap">Sixty years ago this week, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Food Stamp Act of 1964, making formal—and permanent—a program designed to build a bridge between two groups of people: farmers who had surplus crops, and low-income people who couldn’t afford nutritious food.</p>
<p>It was a cornerstone of Johnson’s <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2014/01/13/whos-poor-in-america-50-years-into-the-war-on-poverty-a-data-portrait/">War on Poverty</a> and now stands as a crucial part of the United States’s public health infrastructure. While the program, renamed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in 2008, has been highly successful at <a href="https://www.appam.org/assets/1/7/the_effect_of_snap_on_poverty.pdf">reducing hunger and poverty</a>, experts say it could do with some health-boosting updates.</p>
<p>The SNAP program now feeds <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/food-security-and-nutrition-assistance/?topicId=734dae31-1bae-4db4-81d3-9a1cab76e1a3#:~:text=Participation%20in%20SNAP%20varies%20across,12.6%20percent%20of%20U.S.%20residents.">42 million people</a> each month—about <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/food-security-and-nutrition-assistance/?topicId=734dae31-1bae-4db4-81d3-9a1cab76e1a3#:~:text=Participation%20in%20SNAP%20varies%20across,12.6%20percent%20of%20U.S.%20residents.">13 percent</a> of the U.S. population. Forty percent of SNAP recipients are <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap/key-statistics-and-research/#:~:text=Lastly%2C%2037%20percent%20of%20households,and%20older%20(18%20percent).">children</a>. Those numbers were even higher after the Great Recession, peaking in 2013 when a record 48 million people—close to one in five U.S. residents—received food stamps. Demand surged again during the pandemic.</p>
<p>But some researchers and advocates argue that the program should do more than help low-income people eat—it should help them eat healthier food.</p>
<p>“It’s not just about filling bellies,” says Sara Bleich, a public health policy professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “It’s filling them with food that will improve their health outcomes and general wellness.”</p>
<p>Research suggests people who use food stamps are less healthy than people who do not. A 2021 study found SNAP recipients in low-income, urban neighborhoods <a href="https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(21)00167-7/fulltext#seccesectitle0013">ate more foods that cause inflammation</a>—a diet linked to cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other health issues—than nonrecipients who lived in the same neighborhoods.</p>
<p>SNAP recipients in the study also consumed fewer anti-inflammatory nutrients like fiber, beta-carotene, magnesium, and vitamin E, says Timothy Ciesielski, a study co-author and an environmental health researcher at Case Western Reserve University. The study suggested that SNAP recipients should be encouraged to eat more anti-inflammatory foods like almonds, black beans, spinach, and sweet potatoes.</p>
<p>Legislators have <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/snap-benefits-update-republicans-target-junk-food-1873656">often proposed</a> that SNAP increase limits on the types of food it can be used to buy, such as <a href="https://www.rubio.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/_cache/files/ace2d304-afbe-465b-8877-eb14b98a4054/184D5BCB8512C947EF6EF435C45652C5.healthy-snap-act-elt23601.pdf">junk food</a>. But Craig Gundersen, who co-authored a <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/erevae/v51y2024i1p157-184..html">2023 research paper</a> on SNAP’s benefit formula, argues that the program should not oversee the food choices of recipients. “It’s not the role of the government to tell people what they can and cannot buy,” says Gundersen, an economist at Baylor University. “But people with SNAP should have information about why a food is bad for you.” </p>
<p>Researchers also argue that neither incentives nor mandates matter if healthy and affordable food is not easily available—for instance, in food deserts.</p>
<p>SNAP is expanding its <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/online">online shopping capability</a> to give recipients access to more food retailers, says Tameka Owens, the acting administrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, which oversees the program. That’s partly in response to a rapid increase in online shopping during the pandemic. She says about 4 million people a month now use SNAP benefits to buy food online.</p>
<p>The program is also working to improve recipients’ nutrition through education about healthy eating. “We want to provide the knowledge that individuals need to make healthier food choices in accordance with dietary guidelines,” Owens says.</p>
<p>“Along with our suite of nutrition assistance programs, I definitely do see SNAP as part of our public health infrastructure,” she says. “What we do is not just about providing these supplemental funds to help families make ends meet. It's also making sure that individuals have the tools and resources they need to lead healthier lives.”</p>
<p>Harvard’s Bleich adds, however, that the food stamp program cannot resolve the thorny issues of nutrition. “There’s this tendency to put everything into this one program,” Bleich says. “But SNAP can’t solve everything.” </p>
<p>Perhaps the high expectations come from the program’s longevity. SNAP’s origins date back to <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/history#:~:text=1939%20%E2%80%93%20The%20First%20Food%20Stamp%20Program,-The%20idea%20for&text=The%20program%20operated%20by%20permitting,used%20to%20buy%20any%20food.">smaller food stamp programs that began in 1939</a> after the Depression prompted a greater concern for the poor. Milo Perkins, the program’s first administrator, <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/history">described</a> at the time how it was motivated to solve concurrent problems: "We got a picture of a gorge, with farm surpluses on one cliff and under-nourished city folks with outstretched hands on the other. We set out to find a practical way to build a bridge across that chasm."</p>
<p>In those early days, food stamp recipients exchanged blue and orange government stamps for groceries, a stigmatizing display of poverty at grocery stores. Now SNAP beneficiaries make their purchases using debit cards.</p>
<p>The program has remained politically viable even though it has faced threats to its existence from the beginning. These <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/04/us/food-stamps-program-it-grew-reagan-wants-cut-it-back-budget-targets.html">threats</a> reached a fever pitch in the 1980s after politicians, including President Ronald Reagan, conjured images of the undeserving “welfare queen,” disparaging people who received public assistance and arguing for cuts to food stamps and other programs. Lawmakers still regularly—but unsuccessfully—propose <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/9169/text?s=7&r=57&q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22%5C%22Supplemental+Nutrition+Assistance+Program%5C%22%22%7D">to substantially cut SNAP</a>.</p>
<p>In fact, some say SNAP should expand, because not everyone who is eligible for SNAP benefits gets them. Alfonso Flores-Lagunes, an economist at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, studied racial and ethnic disparities among eligible households whose members got food stamps.</p>
<p>His <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ajae.12402">2023 study</a> showed that among households eligible for SNAP benefits, only a fraction had enrolled: 53 percent of eligible black households, 49 percent of eligible white households, and 39 percent of eligible Hispanic households.</p>
<p>Only about <a href="https://www.ncoa.org/article/nine-million-older-adults-are-not-getting-benefits-they-are-eligible-for/">30 percent</a> of SNAP-eligible people 65 and older are enrolled in the program, according to the National Council on Aging.</p>
<p class=" t-has-endmark t-has-endmark">“Some people don’t know that they’re eligible,” Flores-Lagunes says. “Immigrants are afraid of dealing with the government. I think there needs to be more incentives to get people into the program.”</p>
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