Economic Research Report No. (ERR-147) 36 pp

April 2013

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Participation Leads to Modest Changes in Diet Quality

Research has shown that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (formerly the Food Stamp Program) effectively reduces food insecurity, but questions remain about the extent to which it affects the quality of adult participants' diets. This report compares the Healthy Eating Index scores for adults in low-income households that do and do not participate in SNAP.

Keywords: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, food stamp, food insecurity, Healthy Eating Index, diet quality, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, fruit and vegetable consumption, ordinary least squares model, treatment effects model, average treatment effect

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