Interventions that have Impacted Diet Quality of SNAP Participants: A Scoping Review

The national SNAP benefit program has reduced food insecurity among low-income Americans. However, the program has also been criticized as unhealthy food choices and related chronic diseases remain serious issues among SNAP beneficiaries. Multi component interventions have been developed to help SNAP beneficiaries more effectively utilize their benefits to support a healthful diet. The aim of this scoping review is to examine the breadth of published interventions that have targeted SNAP beneficiaries, and their reported impact on their diet and nutrition related outcomes. Using key search terms, a literature search of PubMed, Ovid Medline, EMBASE, SCOPUS and United States Department of Agriculture website was conducted. Twelve unique interventions were identified and categorized as 1) monetary incentive interventions 2) nutrition education in the form of social marketing or nutrition lessons, and 3) a combination of nutrition education and monetary incentives. Most monetary interventions showed modest improvements in reported fruit and vegetable intake. More research is needed to better understand how the SNAP program can be modified to improve beneficiary diet quality, weight management, chronic disease outcomes and quality of life