TY - JOUR
T1 - Supermarket Purchases Over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Benefit Month
T2 - A Comparison Between Participants and Nonparticipants
AU - Franckle, Rebecca L.
AU - Thorndike, Anne N.
AU - Moran, Alyssa J.
AU - Hou, Tao
AU - Blue, Dan
AU - Greene, Julie C.
AU - Bleich, Sara N.
AU - Block, Jason P.
AU - Polacsek, Michele
AU - Rimm, Eric B.
N1 - Funding Information:
This manuscript was supported by a grant from the Tufts UConn Research Innovation and Development Grants in Economics (RIDGE) program (grant 101383-00001). R.L. Franckle was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship (award T32HL098048) from the NIH. Data collection was supported through a grant from Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and through a grant from the National Institute for Food and Agriculture/U.S. Department of Agriculture (award 2016-68001-24961). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of RIDGE or the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The sponsors of this study had no role in the study design or data collection, management, analysis, or interpretation, and did not require final approval of the manuscript. Author contributions: RLF conducted the final data analyses and drafted the manuscript. RLF and TH had full access to the study data and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. RLF and EBR conceptualized and obtained funding for the study. ANT, AM, TH, DB, JG, SNB, JPB, MP, SNB, and EBR provided methodological and content expertise relevant to study design and data interpretation. All authors provided critical revisions and approved the final version of the manuscript. Preliminary results were presented at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity and the 2018 RIDGE Center Final Grantee Meeting. No financial disclosures were reported by the authors of this paper.
Funding Information:
This manuscript was supported by a grant from the Tufts UConn Research Innovation and Development Grants in Economics (RIDGE) program (grant 101383-00001 ). R.L. Franckle was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship (award T32HL098048 ) from the NIH . Data collection was supported through a grant from Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and through a grant from the National Institute for Food and Agriculture/U.S. Department of Agriculture (award 2016-68001-24961 ). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of RIDGE or the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The sponsors of this study had no role in the study design or data collection, management, analysis, or interpretation, and did not require final approval of the manuscript. Author contributions: RLF conducted the final data analyses and drafted the manuscript. RLF and TH had full access to the study data and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. RLF and EBR conceptualized and obtained funding for the study. ANT, AM, TH, DB, JG, SNB, JPB, MP, SNB, and EBR provided methodological and content expertise relevant to study design and data interpretation. All authors provided critical revisions and approved the final version of the manuscript. Preliminary results were presented at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity and the 2018 RIDGE Center Final Grantee Meeting. No financial disclosures were reported by the authors of this paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 American Journal of Preventive Medicine
PY - 2019/12
Y1 - 2019/12
N2 - Introduction: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides financial assistance for food and beverage purchases to approximately 1 in 7 Americans, with benefits distributed once monthly. Most Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits are spent early in the month, leading to decreased caloric intake later in the month. The effects of this early benefit depletion on the types of foods and beverages purchased over the course of the month is unclear. Methods: Using individually tracked sales data from 950 participants enrolled in 2 supermarket-based RCTs in Maine (October 2015–April 2016 and October 2016–June 2017), purchases of selected food categories by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants (n=248) versus nonparticipants (n=702) in the first 2 weeks compared with the last 2 weeks of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit month were examined. Analyses were completed in 2019. Results: For Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants, adjusted mean food spending decreased 37% from the first 2 weeks to the last 2 weeks of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit month (p<0.0001) compared with a 3% decrease (p=0.02) for nonparticipants. The decline in spending by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants occurred in all examined categories: vegetables (−25%), fruits (−27%), sugar-sweetened beverages (−30%), red meat (−37%), convenience foods (−40%), and poultry (−48%). Difference-in-difference estimators comparing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants with nonparticipants were statistically significant (p<0.05) for all examined categories. Conclusions: In the second half of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit month, individuals reduced purchases of all examined categories. More research is needed to understand the impact of these fluctuations in spending patterns on the dietary quality of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants.
AB - Introduction: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides financial assistance for food and beverage purchases to approximately 1 in 7 Americans, with benefits distributed once monthly. Most Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits are spent early in the month, leading to decreased caloric intake later in the month. The effects of this early benefit depletion on the types of foods and beverages purchased over the course of the month is unclear. Methods: Using individually tracked sales data from 950 participants enrolled in 2 supermarket-based RCTs in Maine (October 2015–April 2016 and October 2016–June 2017), purchases of selected food categories by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants (n=248) versus nonparticipants (n=702) in the first 2 weeks compared with the last 2 weeks of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit month were examined. Analyses were completed in 2019. Results: For Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants, adjusted mean food spending decreased 37% from the first 2 weeks to the last 2 weeks of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit month (p<0.0001) compared with a 3% decrease (p=0.02) for nonparticipants. The decline in spending by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants occurred in all examined categories: vegetables (−25%), fruits (−27%), sugar-sweetened beverages (−30%), red meat (−37%), convenience foods (−40%), and poultry (−48%). Difference-in-difference estimators comparing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants with nonparticipants were statistically significant (p<0.05) for all examined categories. Conclusions: In the second half of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit month, individuals reduced purchases of all examined categories. More research is needed to understand the impact of these fluctuations in spending patterns on the dietary quality of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.amepre.2019.07.025
DO - 10.1016/j.amepre.2019.07.025
M3 - Article
C2 - 31753261
AN - SCOPUS:85074943722
SN - 0749-3797
VL - 57
SP - 800
EP - 807
JO - American Journal of Preventive Medicine
JF - American Journal of Preventive Medicine
IS - 6
ER -