Food Stamp Participation, Weight Change and Nutrition Education

Meg Bruening, PA NEN

The April edition of the Journal of Nutrition covered the “Food Assistance and the Well-Being of Low-Income Families” symposium. This symposium included the following five articles:

  1. “Child Food Insecurity Increases Risks Posed by Household Food Insecurity to Young Children's Health ” (John T. Cook, Deborah A. Frank, Suzette M. Levenson, Nicole B. Neault, Tim C. Heeren, Maurine M. Black, Carol Berkowitz, Patrick H. Casey, Alan F. Meyers, Diana B. Cutts, and Mariana Chilton)
  2. “Food Stamp Program Participation Is Associated with Better Academic Learning among School Children ” (Edward A. Frongillo, Diana F. Jyoti, and Sonya J. Jones)
  3. “Long-Term Food Stamp Program Participation Is Positively Related to Simultaneous Overweight in Young Daughters and Obesity in Mothers ” (Diane Gibson)
  4. “Has the WIC Incentive to Formula-Feed Led to an Increase in Overweight Children?” (Donald Rose, J. Nicholas Bodor, and Mariana Chilton)
  5. “The Modifying Effects of Food Stamp Program Participation on the Relation between Food Insecurity and Weight Change in Women ” (Sonya J. Jones and Edward A. Frongillo)

Each article has the potential to impact Food Stamp Nutrition Education, particularly “ The Modifying Effects of Food Stamp Program Participation on the Relation between Food Insecurity and Weight Change in Women.” In this article, authors Jones and Frongillo investigated whether women participating in the Food Stamp Program underwent long-term weight change. The study presented data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, which included 6,421 families (5,503 women) in 1999 and 2001.

Other studies have shown that involvement in the Food Stamp Program leads to an increase in participants’ weight. Jones and Frongillo found that over a one-year period a significant change in weight occurred in women who were persistently food insecure. Specifically, those who were persistently food insecure but not participating fully in the Food Stamp Program lost an average of 7 kg (15.4 lbs). Those who were persistently food insecure and participated fully in the program gained an average of 7.8 kg (17.2 lbs). The combination of this data translated showed an average weight gain of 0.8 kg (1.8 lbs) in those who at least partially participated in the program. The researchers were not able to conclude whether or not this weight change was a result of participation in the Food Stamp Program. Also, the researchers noted that full participation in the Food Stamp Program was not associated with additional weight gain among women who experienced short-term food insecurity.

Even though the researchers were unable to capture the cause of the weight change, the results still lead us to some interesting points. Only those who were persistently food insecure (using the Food Stamp Program or not) experienced weight change. In their discussion, Jones and Frongillo stated the following: “The only significant differences were among women who were persistently food insecure. It is very likely that weight gain that leads to obesity, full participation in the Food Stamp Program, and persistent food insecurity are the results of a long-standing process that was not adequately captured by the covariates included in our models.” This article was working under the premise that “household food insecurity acts as a stressor in a woman’s life and may lead to stress-induced weight change.” It is understood through the text of the article that weight change would likely be positive (increase), illustrating a factor in the rising obesity epidemic. However, it is not known whether the women involved in the study were underweight or overweight to begin with. Depending on the subject, the weight change may have been a desired result.

Whether the weight change is a loss or gain (or whether it was desired or not) may not be relevant. Women who are continually insecure do not know how (or are not able) to maintain a stable weight over time. How do we expect them to teach their children to have an energy balance in their lives, if they themselves cannot keep the scales level? In another article included in the symposium (“ Long-Term Food Stamp Program Participation Is Positively Related to Simultaneous Overweight in Young Daughters and Obesity in Mothers”), the author discovered that girls coming from households with long-term participation in the Food Stamp Program with obese mothers were more likely to be overweight or obese. Similarly, other articles have reiterated that daughters mimic their mothers’ picky eating behavior. Furthermore, the Food and Nutrition Services has begun to focus its efforts toward women.

From Jones and Frongillo’s findings, nutrition education efforts may need to begin targeting those who are persistently food insecure. The difficulty in this task is reaching these women, and designing nutrition education that they can adopt within their already stretched resources.

To view the abstracts included in the symposium, please visit the Journal of Nutrition’s Web site: http://www.nutrition.org/