Food stamps linked to weight gain in women

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- The use of food stamps is associated with weight gain in women, but U.S. researchers say they don't know exactly why.

The 14-year study, published in Economics and Human Biology, finds the average user of food stamps had a body mass index 1.15 points higher than non-users and the link was almost entirely based on women users, who averaged a 1.24 point higher BMI, or 5.8 pounds, than those not in the program.

Study co-author Jay Zagorsky of Ohio State University's Center for Human Resource Research said the government statistics showed that the average recipient received $81 in food stamps per month in 2002, the last year examined in this study.

"That figure was shocking to me," Zagorsky said in a statement. "I think it would be very difficult for a shopper to regularly buy healthy, nutritious food on that budget."

Calorie-dense, high-fat, processed foods tend to be less expensive than more healthy choices such as whole-grains and produce, Zagorsky said.

Zagorsky and Patricia Smith of the University of Michigan-Dearborn used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which has questioned the same group of randomly selected Americans since 1979.