CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Providing low-income households that receive federal food assistance benefits with financial incentives to buy fruits and vegetables would encourage them to purchase and consume more healthy food, and slightly increase their longevity, a new study suggests.
Despite some critics’ concerns, these incentives, in the form of rebates for purchasing healthy foods, are unlikely to prompt consumers to increase their spending on junk food as well, according to University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Ruopeng An.
An evaluated the cost effectiveness of the Healthy Incentives Pilot, an experimental initiative that offered a 30 percent rebate to participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program when they bought targeted fruits and vegetables at participating retailers. SNAP, formerly known as Food Stamps, provides food assistance benefits to more than 46 million Americans – or more than one in five people – nationwide. The program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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