Increasing use of SNAP fruit and vegetable incentives for families with food insecurity
Official title: Increasing Use of SNAP Fruit and Vegetable Incentive Programs for Families with Food Insecurity
Funded at University of South Carolina at Columbia · NIH-11332582 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project tests whether giving families in SNAP a free F&V voucher through pediatric clinics helps improve kids’ and parents’ diets and reduce food insecurity.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of South Carolina at Columbia NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Columbia, United States) |
| Project start | July 1, 2024 |
| Project end | May 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $640,501 |
| NIH project number | 5R01DK140677-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11332582 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Families enrolled in SNAP with a child aged 2-10 who are food insecure and willing to participate in pediatric visits.
✕Less likely to help
Families not engaging with the clinic flow or who do not redeem the vouchers may see no benefit.
What this research studies
Families with SNAP will be approached in pediatric clinics to learn about and try a SNAP F&V incentive program. Eligible dyads with a child aged 2-10 who are food insecure will be randomly assigned to receive either a Veggie Voucher intervention or education-only wait-list control. The intervention provides electronic vouchers for free F&V boxes at a participating community site over time, with guidance and encouragement from clinicians. The study uses rolling, individual-level randomization and includes follow-up to see changes in parent-child diet quality, food security, and potential reductions in disease risk. The goal is to demonstrate whether this approach can boost healthy eating in families and support long-term health.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, families could eat more fruits and vegetables and experience better diet quality and reduced food insecurity.
How similar studies have gone: Prior SNAP incentive programs have shown increased fruit and vegetable intake when incentives are used, supporting potential benefit but this specific clinic-based approach is being tested.
Where this research is happening
-
University of South Carolina at Columbia
Columbia, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Adams, Elizabeth — University of South Carolina at Columbia
- Study coordinator: Adams, Elizabeth
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Connecting high-risk Veterans with food and nutrition support
This project will try ways to help Veterans who struggle to get enough healthy food by linking VA clinics with community food programs and services.
-
Promesa: Urban gardens and peer nutrition to help people with HIV in the Dominican Republic
A unified program uses urban gardening and peer nutrition counseling to help people living with HIV who are food insecure in the Dominican Republic improve their health and HIV outcomes.
-
Addressing Food Insecurity in Underserved Communities
A multi-site effort to reduce food insecurity and related health disparities in Black and other under-represented communities by introducing universal screening and community-driven, structural interventions in Florida FQHCs.
-
Promesa: Urban gardens and peer nutrition support for people with HIV in the Dominican Republic
This project offers urban gardening and peer-led nutrition support to people living with HIV who face food insecurity in the Dominican Republic to help keep their viral load undetectable and stay on treatment.
-
Pay-what-you-can cafes and heart health in people with high blood pressure and food insecurity
This project tests whether eating at pay-what-you-can cafes improves blood pressure and heart- disease related outcomes for hypertensive adults who face food insecurity.
-
Addressing Food Insecurity for Youth with Diabetes in Clinical Care
A study tests a social work–led program to screen for social needs like food insecurity and connect families of children with type 1 diabetes to community resources through their health care clinic.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.