Food to Children Approves Outcomes for AdultsPosted: December 4, 2012
A new study finds that providing access to food stamps to individuals either in utero or as a child results in improved outcomes as adults. Food in childhood led to a large and statistically significant reduction in the incidence of “metabolic syndrome” (obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes) as well as an increase in reporting to be in good health as adults. It also concluded that for women, but not men, access to food stamps in early childhood led to an increase in economic self-sufficiency, defined by an index that incorporated education, poverty status, employment status, receipt of public benefits and earning. Finally, the study provides evidence that these effects are greatest for children who received food stamps in early childhood, before the age of 5.