(Press-News.org) ATLANTA – September 23, 2014 –A new American Cancer Society study suggests that participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), previously known as the food stamp program, had lower dietary quality scores compared with income eligible non-participants. The authors say the findings emphasize the need to bolster programs aimed at enhancing the dietary quality of SNAP participants.
The SNAP program aims to assist low-income individuals and households with the resources to obtain a nutritionally adequate diet. In 2013, approximately 47.6 million individuals, or about one in seven Americans, participated in the program. Although SNAP aims to help families "put food on the table" and prevent food insecurity, some studies have found that SNAP participation is also linked to increased likelihood of weight gain and obesity. The 2014 Farm Bill included several provisions aimed at facilitating and encouraging SNAP participants to eat healthier, including requiring SNAP retailers to carry foods from a range of food groups and more fresh foods and creating a pilot program to provide for grants to test the use of incentives to encourage fruit and vegetable purchases by SNAP participants. SNAP-Ed, the nutrition education companion to the SNAP program, has been revamped in recent years with the goal of promoting healthier food choices.
For their study, published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers led by Binh T. Nguyen, PhD, of the American Cancer Society, explored the diet quality of SNAP participants using data from a nationally representative sample of over 4,000 adult Americans from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003-2010 (NHANES).
Their analyses revealed that compared with low-income nonparticipants, SNAP participants had lower dietary quality scores overall and lower scores for fruits and vegetables, seafood and plant proteins, and had higher intake of empty calories. The groups had comparable scores on intakes of whole grains, refined grain, total dairy, total protein, fatty acid, and sodium. The researchers found that the relationship between SNAP participation and lower dietary quality was primarily observed in women, Hispanics, young adults and those who were food secure.
"The results suggest a need for interventions that encourage a healthier diet among SNAP participants in general but also particularly in the subgroups we've identified as being particularly at risk," said Dr. Nguyen. "We do, however, want to emphasize the importance of SNAP; our findings underscore the need for additional education, incentives, and other interventions to make sure not only that people are getting calories, but also that they're getting them from the right foods."
INFORMATION:
Additional coauthors on the study include Dr. Kerem Shuval of the American Cancer Society, and Drs. Valentine Y. Njike and David L. Katz of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center.
Article: Nguyen, B. T., Shuval, K., Njike, V. Y., & Katz, D. L. (2014). The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Dietary Quality among U.S. Adults: Findings from a Nationally Representative Survey. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 89(9), 1211-1219.
http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(14)00470-4/abstract
Federal food program puts food on the table, but dietary quality could be improved
2014-09-23
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Statin use during hospitalization for hemorrhagic stroke associated with improved survival
2014-09-22
OAKLAND, Calif., September 22, 2014 –Patients who were treated with a statin in the hospital after suffering from a hemorrhagic stroke were significantly more likely to survive than those who were not, according to a study published today in JAMA Neurology. This study was conducted by the same researchers who recently discovered that the use of cholesterol-lowering statins can improve survival in victims of ischemic stroke.
Ischemic stroke is caused by a constriction or obstruction of a blood vessel that blocks blood from reaching areas of the brain, while hemorrhagic ...
Cytomegalovirus linked to maternal breast milk in very-low-birth-weight infants
2014-09-22
The primary source of postnatal infection with cytomagelovirus (CMV, a common virus usually without symptoms) in very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants appeared to be maternal breast milk because no infections were linked to transfusions of CMV-seronegative and leukoreduced blood products writes author Cassandra D. Josephson, M.D., of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and colleagues.
Transfusion-transmitted CMV (TT-CMV) and breast milk-transmitted (BM-CMV) infection can cause serious illness and death in VLBW babies with immature immune systems. Using CMV-seronegative ...
Statins associated with better outcomes in hospitalization for brain hemorrhage
2014-09-22
Bottom Line: Hospitalized patients who took statins after a stroke caused by an intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH, bleeding in the brain) appeared to have better 30-day survival and were more likely to be discharged to their home or an acute rehabilitation facility than patients who did not use statins or whose statin use was discontinued in the hospital.
Author: Alexander C. Flint, M.D., Ph.D., of Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Redwood City, Calif., and colleagues.
Background: Statins are known to reduce the risk of ischemic stroke among patients with a history ...
Maternal breast milk is risk factor for cytomegalovirus transmission in premature infants
2014-09-22
Premature infants, especially those born with very low-birth-weight (VLBW), are particularly vulnerable to cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection because of their immature immune systems. CMV infection can cause serious disease and, in severe cases, lead to death.
Two important potential sources of CMV infection in premature infants are blood transfusions and breast milk. Neither source has previously been systematically examined in a large enough study, however, to quantify the specific risks of infection and identify risk factors to help guide prevention strategies.
In ...
Hardwiring AHA guidelines into order system reduced telemetry orders
2014-09-22
Bottom Line: A health care system reduced its use of telemetry (monitoring to detect irregular heartbeats) by 70 percent by integrating the American Heart Association's (AHA's) guidelines into its electronic ordering system.
Author: Robert Dressler, M.D., M.B.A., of the Christiana Care Health System, Newark, Del., and colleagues.
Background: The AHA recommendations for non-intensive care unit (non-ICU) cardiac telemetry divide patients into three groups: cardiac telemetry is indicated, it may provide benefit or it is unlikely to provide benefit. Non-ICU telemetry appeared ...
Discount generic drug programs grow over time
2014-09-22
Generic discount drug programs (GDDPs, which charge nominal fees to fill prescriptions) have grown over time and their initial lower use by racial/ethnic minorities has evaporated., writes author Song Hee Hong, Ph.D., of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, and Sunghee H. Tak, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.N., of the University of Memphis, Tennessee.
GDDPS can reduce medication costs and help patients get their drug therapy. However, the initial use of GDDPs was low in 2007 at 3.6 percent of patients receiving any prescription drugs, especially among minorities. ...
Few kids receive psychotherapy along with medication for ADHD, study finds
2014-09-22
About one quarter of commercially-insured children who are treated with medication for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder also receive psychotherapy, and the percentage is far lower in many parts of the country, according to a new RAND Corporation study.
Published as a research letter in the Sept. 22 edition of JAMA Pediatrics, the study is the first to document the substantial variation in receipt of talk therapy among U.S. children treated with ADHD medication, varying more than six-fold across counties in the United States.
For many children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity ...
Research study analyzes the best exercise for obese youths
2014-09-22
What exercise program can best fight the "epidemic" of teen obesity? According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics, by combining aerobic exercise with resistance training.
The Healthy Eating Aerobic and Resistance Training in Youth (HEARTY) study, led by researchers at the University of Calgary and University of Ottawa, involved 304 overweight teens in the Ottawa/Gatineau area between the ages of 14 to 18. All were given the same four weeks of diet counseling to promote healthy eating and weight loss before being ...
Think the system for paying US doctors is rigged to favor surgeons? Study may surprise you
2014-09-22
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A surprising new study pulls back the curtain on one of the most contentious issues in health care: differences in payment and income between physicians who perform operations, procedures or tests, and those who don't.
Contrary to perception, the research indicates, the physician payment system is not inherently "rigged" to favor surgeons and other procedure-performing doctors.
The new findings counter the widely held belief that a simple difference in pay per minute explains why doctors who perform procedures often earn nearly twice as much money ...
Scientists seen as competent but not trusted by Americans
2014-09-22
PRINCETON, N.J.—If scientists want the public to trust their research suggestions, they may want to appear a bit "warmer," according to a new review published by Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
The review, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), shows that while Americans view scientists as competent, they are not entirely trusted. This may be because they are not perceived to be friendly or warm.
In particular, Americans seem wary of researchers seeking grant funding and do not trust ...