Unhealthy drink consumption highest among economically-vulnerable households on multiple food assistance programs: Study

A long-standing and contentiously debated question is the extent to which US federal food assistance programs contribute to or deter healthy beverage intake. Findings of a new study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior show that while beverage intake patterns rarely differed between mothers and young children who participated only in the Supplementation Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), only the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or neither program, those whose households participated in both programs consumed high amounts of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs).