Study finds nearly 90% of SNAP recipients face barriers to healthy diet

A new study from the Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service shows many recipients of federal nutrition benefits still encounter issues in their efforts to eat a healthy diet.

According to the study, almost 90% of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients reported facing obstacles to healthy eating throughout the month. The study, Barriers That Constrain the Adequacy of SNAP Allotments, aimed to determine individual and environmental barriers to SNAP participants achieving healthy diets and to determine how these issues can be addressed in SNAP allotments.

Of those who reported facing challenges to healthy eating, 61% of participants said affordability of healthy foods was the barrier, 19% pointed to a lack of transportation to the grocery store, and 18% said it was the distance to the grocery store. Participants in rural areas reported greater travel times to a grocery store.