A nutritional analysis of the Food Stamp Program

Conflicting claims made both for and against the Food Stamp program have never been based on empirical evidence of its effects on the adequacy and the quality of diets of poor people. In this study, individual diets are measured against dietary standards appropriate for individuals and models of nutritional adequacy are constructed which make possible a determination of the program's impact on many different components of human nutrition. Two types of multiple regression models of nutrient sufficiency--ratios of dietary intake to standard as well as nutrient densities--were developed with dietary recall data from 181 and 195 subjects, respectively. These subjects were selected in a random, probability sample of a low-income area of Tulsa. Oklahoma in 1978 and all had annual household incomes which placed them at or below the poverty level. Separate models were developed for each of six nutrients, calories, protein, calcium, iron, vitamin A and vitamin C, and a large number of covariates were included in these models to isolate the effects due to program participation. The results suggest that the effects of food stamps are not uniformly positive nor are they similar to the effects which could be expected under a less expensive system of direct cash payments.