Fruit and Vegetable, Fat, and Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake Among Low-Income Mothers Living in Neighborhoods With Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education

Objective: To examine among low-income mothers the consumption of fruits and vegetables (FV), high-fat foods, and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and overall diet quality in relation to levels of reach of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) interventions across 2,907 California census tracts.

Design: Cross-sectional telephone survey conducted from April through October, 2014 using the Automated Self-administered 24-Hour Recall dietary assessment.

Participants: Mothers or primary caregivers (n = 6,355) from randomly selected SNAP households. The sample was 42.6% Latina, 25.5% white, and 17.6% African American. The response rate was 60.5%.

Main outcome measures: Cups of FV; calories from high-fat foods; and cups of SSBs, overall and from items purchased from fast-food restaurants. Overall diet quality was assessed by the Healthy Eating Index-2010.

Analysis: Linear regression controlling for race/ethnicity and education, with significance at P ≤ .05.

Results: Mothers from high SNAP-Ed reach census tracts ate more cups of FV, consumed fewer calories from high-fat foods, and drank fewer cups of SSBs. Healthy Eating Index-2010 scores did not vary by levels of SNAP-Ed reach.

Conclusions and implications: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education interventions are related to increased intake of FV and decreased consumption of high-fat foods and SSBs, but not overall diet quality. Future studies should include assessment of physical activity to investigate caloric balance in association with levels of SNAP-Ed interventions.