title: Nutrition Assistance Programs: Cause or Solution to Obesity.
abstract: Three nutrition assistance programs-Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), and National School Lunch Program (NSLP)-serve as the backbone of the nutrition safety net in the USA. These programs have been successful in achieving many of their initial goals of improving food purchases, food intake, and/or nutritional status of low-income, vulnerable Americans. The emphasis in these programs has now broadened to also include an obesity prevention focus. Recent changes in program components demonstrate the revised objectives of the program. SNAP, WIC, and NSLP increase economic access to an adequate diet but access alone is unlikely to be the total solution to obesity prevention. An ecological approach, incorporating the nutrition programs, appears to be a more promising strategy to leverage the impact of SNAP, WIC, and NSLP.
authors.affiliation: Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, 150 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA, 02201, USA. eileen.kennedy@tufts.edu.
authors.forename: Eileen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.affiliation: Economic Research Service, USDA, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Mailstop 1800, Washington, DC, 20520, USA.
authors.forename: Joanne F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Guthrie
mesh_terms: D063105:Food Assistance; D005522:Food Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D009752:Nutritional Status; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012574:Schools / Q000458:organization & administration; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Evaluation; NSLP; Obesity; SNAP; WIC