Strengthening nutrition security through SNAP

Everyone deserves access to affordable, nutritious food.

Yet we have a food system designed to push profits, often at the expense of our health, and targeted food industry marketing to people with low incomes and people of color compounds health disparities.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is well positioned to play a role in addressing these inequities. And as the nation’s largest federal nutrition assistance program – accounting for eight percent of all foods purchased for home consumption – SNAP has the potential to leverage the food environment to support healthy eating for all.

This brief explores the evidence for the impact of various SNAP pricing strategies on nutritional health outcomes and cost savings, and identifies research gaps that remain.