An article in United Press International last week describes a North Carolina University study on the ability of SNAP benefits to meet dietary requirements of men, women, and children throughout the lifecycle(1).
The study used the USDA 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans for children, adolescents, female adults, male adults, female seniors, male seniors, and a 4-person family. It then compared the recommendations for these groups to the USDA's retail price data of foods (including fresh, frozen and canned)(2).
The researchers found that:
Following the USDA MyPlate recommendations consisting of only fresh fruits and vegetables is the most expensive diet.
The monthly additional costs on an individual basis is the largest for boys aged 12–17 years ($75/mo) because they eat the most compared with all other gender and age groups.
the monthly cost for a family of 4 ranged from $1,109 to $1,249/month(2).
Ultimately, the only group that could afford to eat the recommended diet using SNAP was children under 8 and women over 51(1).
SNAP is not supposed to cover the cost of all food, however, if following the Dietary Guideline recommendations, it will only cover 43-60% of the cost, leaving families to come up with an additional $200-$600/month on their own.
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References
(1) Wallace, A. (2017). SNAP benefits are not enough to provide a healthy diet, study says. UPI. Retrieved Sept. 11, 2017 from https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2017/09/07/SNAP-benefits-are-not-enough-to-provide-a-healthy-diet-study-says/4761504803410/
(2) Mulik, K. & Haynes-Maslow, L. (2017). The affordability of MyPlate: An analysis of SNAP benefits and the actual cost of eating according to the Dietary Guidelines. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 49(8), 623 - 631.