ArticleSSM - population health2020
Is less more? Examining the relationship between food assistance benefit levels and childhood weight.
Article in SSM - population health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- A Scoping Review to Identify Community- and Societal-Level Strategies Evaluated from 2013 to 2023 for Their Potential Impact on Child Well-Being in the United States.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Income Support Policy Packages and Birth Outcomes in U.S. States: An Ecological Analysis.Population research and policy review · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a critical lifeline for millions of low-income US families, but some studies suggests that it may inadvertently increase obesity risk. Building on research contesting the SNAP-obesity link, we examine the effect of SNAP participation on BMI among multiyear participants at varying levels of SNAP benefit levels to provide some of the first evidence on the relationship between SNAP participation, state-level SNAP resources, and body weight. We focus on children given the strong links between early-life obesity and later-life health.
methodsLinking state-level data on SNAP benefit levels with three waves of longitudinal individual-level data from the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we use child- and state-level fixed effects to examine whether exogenous differences in SNAP benefit allotments influence the relationship between SNAP participation and weight gain.
resultsLower SNAP benefit levels were associated with only modest increases in BMI among children; higher benefit levels showed no association with BMI.
conclusionsAlthough concerns that more food assistance promotes obesity have spurred calls for cuts in the SNAP program, we find the opposite - that SNAP participation is associated with an increase in childhood BMI only when benefit levels are low. This study adds to the mounting evidence suggesting that SNAP does not cause obesity. It also contributes to the literature on the political economy of health, especially that pertaining to social policy variation across US states.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.