Vouchers that permit low-income women to shop at a local farmers’ market increase fruit and vegetable consumption in poor families

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Vouchers that permit low-income women to shop at a local farmers’ market

increase fruit and vegetable consumption in poor families, a new study

shows.

January 15, 2008, 10:51 am

The Farmers’ Market Effect

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/the-farmers-market-effect/

The research, published this month in the American Journal of Public

Health, comes just as states are making important changes to national

nutrition programs. For years, the federally-funded Women, Infants and

Children (W.I.C.) program, which subsidizes food purchases for

low-income women and young children, hasn’t included fruits and

vegetables, except for fruit juice and carrots for breastfeeding women.

After a push by health groups and a recent report from the Institute of

Medicine, the United States Department of Agriculture in December

revised W.I.C. to include monthly subsidies for fruits and vegetables.

States will begin implementing the new rules in February.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles tracked the

eating habits of 602 area women taking part in the federal W.I.C.

program. Some of the women were given $10 in weekly vouchers for

vegetable and fruit purchases at a nearby farmers’ market or

supermarket, while a control group received coupons for non-food

products in exchange for sharing information about eating habits.

After six months, women who shopped at the farmers’ markets were eating

about three additional servings of fruits and vegetables a day, compared

to the control group. Supermarket shoppers consumed 1.5 extra servings.

It’s not clear why mothers visiting a farmers’ market wound up buying

more vegetables than grocery store shoppers, but some women told the

researchers that the produce sold at markets seemed to be fresher and of

higher quality than supermarket offerings. Many shoppers also said they

enjoyed the pleasant community experience and the chance to interact

directly with growers, the authors noted.

While this latest report shows that subsidizing fruit and vegetable

purchases can make a big difference in eating habits among low-income

people, it also suggests that the new amounts recently approved for

W.I.C. fall far short of what is needed. The U.C.L.A. study gave women

$10 a week, while the W.I.C. program will provide monthly vouchers worth

$8 to each recipient and $6 to each child. Breastfeeding women will

receive just $10 a month toward fruits and vegetables.

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1: Am J Public Health. 2008 Jan;98(1):98-105. Epub 2007 Nov 29.

Effect of a targeted subsidy on intake of fruits and vegetables among

low-income women in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for

Women, Infants, and Children.

Herman DR, on GG, Afifi AA, Jenks E.

Department of Community Health Sciences, University of California,

Los Angeles (UCLA), School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

dherman@...

OBJECTIVES: Intake of fruits and vegetables protects against several

common chronic diseases, and low income is associated with lower intake.

We tested the effectiveness of a subsidy for fruits and vegetables to

the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and

Children (WIC). METHODS: Women who enrolled for postpartum services

(n=602) at 3 WIC sites in Los Angeles were assigned to an intervention

(farmers' market or supermarket, both with redeemable food vouchers) or

control condition (a minimal nonfood incentive). Interventions were

carried out for 6 months, and participants' diets were followed for an

additional 6 months. RESULTS: Intervention participants increased their

consumption of fruits and vegetables and sustained the increase 6 months

after the intervention was terminated (model adjusted R(2)=.13, P<.001).

Farmers' market participants showed an increase of 1.4 servings per 4186

kJ (1000 kcal) of consumed food (P<.001) from baseline to the end of

intervention compared with controls, and supermarket participants showed

an increase of 0.8 servings per 4186 kJ (P=.02). CONCLUSIONS:

Participants valued fresh fruits and vegetables, and adding them to the

WIC food packages will result in increased fruit and vegetable consumption.

PMID: 18048803

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