The federal government shutdown from December 22, 2018 – January 25, 2019 created an unprecedented disruption in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. The Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) in partnership with University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) Advisors sought and received an Opportunity Grant from the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, to conduct a cross-sectional qualitative study to capture California SNAP participants' experiences during the benefit disruption. The study aim was to ascertain how the disruption affected participants' food security, health, and well being. Data were collected February and March 2019 in four focus groups with low-income adults in Los Angeles, Tuolumne, San Mateo, and San Francisco. The study was published in the journal Nutrients on June 23, 2020 by Wendi Gosliner, Ken Hecht, Elsa Esparza and Lorrene Ritchie from NPI in collaboration with Wei-Ting Chen from Stanford University (affiliated with UCCE at the time of the study), and Cathryn Johnson and Natalie Price from UCCE. Participants in the study reported that:
- SNAP benefits generally are too low for participants to afford an adequate, healthy diet. Despite much effort to manage limited food budgets, participants routinely run out of money for food.
- Eligibility determinations for SNAP feel overly restrictive, especially in high cost-of living areas, and the program is not adequately agile to respond in a timely way to frequent changes in participants' employment or other circumstances.
- Customer service and communications between SNAP offices and participants show room for improvement. The 2019 benefit disruption highlighted challenges in communications; few participants reported being informed about the disruption in a timely manner, if at all, and most reported confusion.
- Some participants described the 2019 benefit disruption as providing temporary relief from routine end-of-the-month scarcity; overall, the disruption caused a great deal of emotional stress, heightened food insecurity, and increased financial distress.
- The disruption resulted in many participants feeling more insecure about their SNAP benefits, and some losing faith in the government.
Participants recommended SNAP policy and program changes to:
- Improve benefit adequacy by increasing benefit levels.
- Modify eligibility and benefit formulas to better address high costs-of-living as well as the expenses associated with working (e.g., transportation, childcare).
- Improve customer service and communications.
- Prevent future disruptions.
Read more in the research brief and the study.
Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are the largest single source of added sugars in the U.S. diet. Consumption of SSBs is a major contributing factor to excessive weight gain in young children and is linked to increased risk of dental decay, type-2 diabetes, metabolic dysfunction and heart disease later in life. For over 10 years, Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) researchers have been working closely with child care stakeholders and advocates from the California Food Policy Advocates to improve the beverages served in licensed child care settings. The implementation of California's Healthy Beverages in Child Care Act (CA AB 2084) in 2012 was a major milestone for this long-term collaboration, which requires all licensed child care providers in California to serve only healthy beverages and serve no SSBs to children in their care. NPI's latest research brief shares results from state wide surveys conducted in 2012 and 2016 in collaboration with CFPA and the Sarah Samuels Center for Public Health Research & Evaluation that suggests only 45% of California child care providers are fully adherent to all four components of CA AB 2084:
- Serve only low-fat or non-fat milk to children aged 2 years or older.
- Limit juice to no more than one serving daily of 100% juice.
- Serve no beverages with added sweeteners, either natural or artificial.
- Make safe drinking water available and readily accessible throughout the day.
The research brief also shares how NPI researchers collaborated with the UCSF School of Nursing and the California Child Care Health Program, UC Cooperative Extension, and UC Merced to develop and evaluate a free, on-demand online training in English and Spanish to support child care providers to offer healthy beverages. The research brief is available online.
The Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) is excited to be working with five undergraduate and graduate student fellows over the summer of 2020. Celeste Felix and Caroline Long finished their first year in the University of California (UC), Berkeley School of Public Health, Master's in Public Health (MPH) Nutrition program and have joined NPI to complete their MPH summer internship requirement. They will be working with NPI researchers Wendi Gosliner, Ron Strochlic, and Marisa Tsai to evaluate two California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) programs including the California Nutrition Incentive Program (CNIP), California Healthy Stores Refrigeration Grant Program, and a CDFA Specialty Crop Block Grant funded pilot test of technological innovations to increase specialty crop consumption among CalFresh participants. Sophia Navarro is NPI's first Student Fellowship in honor of Dr. Pat Crawford. She will be working with NPI researchers Lorrene Ritchie and Marisa Tsai and Stanford Medicine Department of Pediatrics pediatrician and researcher Anisha Patel to analyze data collected from fourth grade students who have participated in the Water First Study to examine associations between milk type, calorie intake and body mass index. Anna Rios is a undergraduate student intern from UC Berkeley who will be joining NPI as part of the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) summer student research program. Rios will be working on an grant proposal to test the impact of milk type on toddler dietary intakes and weight. She will be working with Lorrene Ritchie, Marisa Tsai and Anisha Patel. Erin Esaryk is completing her Berkeley Food Institute fellowship at NPI and will be working with Lorrene Ritchie and UCSF researcher Suzanna Martinez to research food and housing insecurity among UC students.
Joanne Pakel Ikeda was a pioneer in the field of nutrition education for over 50 years. Joanne was a Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of California (UC), Berkeley. She remained in that position until her retirement in 2006. Joanne loved her job, which included teaching, conducting nutrition education research and extending discoveries to the public, particularly to vulnerable populations. Joanne and colleagues in the Department of Nutritional Sciences established the Center for Weight and Health at UC Berkeley, which is now known as the Nutrition Policy Institute. The center, the first of its kind, facilitated interactions among researchers, policymakers, and community-based organizations to promote healthy weight and reduce food insecurity of children and their families. Joanne passed away on November 27, 2018. Her family, friends and colleagues will remember her always as a fearless leader who worked tirelessly to protect the nutritional health of the public, and in particular, the most vulnerable among us. Joanne's full In Memoriam is available online.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Society for Nutrition will host Nutrition 2020, their annual conference, virtually for the first time ever. The conference will take place online on June 1-4, 2020, and is completely free for attendees, who can join from anywhere in the world. Two Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) researchers will present their latest research as part of the virtual offerings. Marisa Tsai, NPI data analyst, will present two virtual abstracts titled 'Dimensions of School Food Environments and Their Association with Anthropometric and Dietary Outcomes in Children: The Healthy Communities Study' and 'Healthy Default Beverages in Kids' Meals: Evaluating Policy Adherence and Impact in California'. Hannah Thompson, NPI epidemiologist and an affiliated researcher with the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, will present an abstract titled 'The impact of a district-wide chocolate milk removal policy on secondary students' milk purchasing and consumption'. Dr. Thompson's abstract will also have an on-demand virtual presentation available. There is no set time schedule for the virtual abstract presentations. The abstracts will be available through the meeting's online schedule planner and mobile app. Individuals interested in attending Nutrition 2020 can register for free online.
