Incentives Incentives! Why Being on Food Stamps Up Your Obesity Risk

We know that obesity levels aren't going anywhere near down. We also know that the biggest increase is among the lower-income segment of the population. Now we have data that proves a logical assumption from these two facts: Being on food stamps makes you more likely to be obese. New research in the current issue of Economics and Human Biology (hat tip: Sci Am) found that people who receive food stamps have, on average, a BMI of more than 1 point higher than people not participating in the food stamp program. "Every way we looked at the data, it was clear that the use of food stamps was associated with weight gain," said Jay Zagorsky, co-author of the study. Why is this? Because food stamps offer a very small amount of credit—$81 a month for the average recipient in 2002—with which to purchase food. As such, people relying on the ...