Why do SNAP households purchase more unhealthy food?

The article discusses why households participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) tend to purchase more unhealthy food. Despite the program's goal of improving food security and access to a healthy diet, research shows that SNAP households buy a larger proportion of sweetened, unhealthy foods compared to non-SNAP households. The article presents three separate studies that investigate the motivations behind this behavior, including the influence of electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards, food cravings, and perceptions of unhealthiness. The findings suggest that SNAP households' shopping behavior is influenced by factors beyond having extra resources, such as cravings and biased perceptions of unhealthy foods. The article concludes by suggesting that retailers could benefit from understanding the behavior and motivations of SNAP households to better serve this customer segment and improve health outcomes. [Extracted from the article]