Diet quality over the monthly supplemental nutrition assistance program cycle

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, which are distributed monthly, help low-income families put food on their tables. Both food spending and caloric intake among recipients decrease over the month following benefit receipt. This pattern, termed the "SNAP-cycle," has serious implications for health and food security of low-income households. To understand better the SNAP-cycle, this study explored (1) differences in diet quality between SNAP and non-SNAP households and (2) the association between the SNAP-cycle and diet quality.Multivariate linear regression with SNAP households in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey to evaluate changes in diet quality as time from SNAP distribution increased. Diet quality of food purchases was measured by Healthy Eating Index-2010 total and component scores. Data were collected 2012-2013 and analyzed 2016-2017.Overall dietary quality was low throughout the SNAP-cycle (n=1,377, mean Healthy Eating Index 46.14 of 100). SNAP households had significantly lower Healthy Eating Index scores compared with eligible and ineligible nonparticipants (p