Purpose

To determine whether baseline fruit and vegetable (FV) intake or other predictors are associated with response to food vouchers (change in FV intake) among low-income adults.

Design

Secondary analysis of a randomized, 2 x 2-factorial, community-based trial.

Setting

San Francisco, California.

Subjects

359 low-income adults aged ≥21 years old.

Intervention

Participants were mailed $20 of food vouchers monthly for 6 months, and randomized to 1 of 4 arms according to: eligible foods (FV only or any foods) and redemption schedule (weekly or monthly).

Measures

Change in FV intake measured in cup equivalents between baseline and month 6 of the trial, based on 24-hour dietary recalls.

Analysis

Quantile multivariate regressions were employed to measure associations between key predictors and change in FV intake across study arms.

Results

FV-only weekly vouchers were associated with increased FV intake at the 25th percentile (0.24 cups/day, p = 0.048) and 50th percentile (0.37 cups/day, p = 0.02) of the distribution, but not at lower and higher quantiles. Response to the vouchers diminished 0.10 cups/day for each additional household member (p = 0.02).

Conclusion

Response to food vouchers varied along the FV intake distribution, pointing to some more responsive groups and others potentially needing additional support to increase FV intake. Larger households likely need vouchers of higher dollar value to result in similar changes in dietary intake as that observed in smaller households.

Nutrition assistance programs are the subject of ongoing policy debates. Two proposals remain uninformed by existing evidence: whether restricting benefits to allow only fruit and vegetable purchases improves overall dietary intake, and whether more frequent distribution of benefits (weekly versus monthly) induces more fruit and vegetable consumption and less purchasing of calorie-dense foods. In a community-based trial, we randomly assigned participants to receive food vouchers that differed in what foods could be purchased (fruit and vegetables only or any foods) and in distribution schedule (in weekly or monthly installments, holding total monthly value constant). The use of vouchers for fruit and vegetables only did not yield significantly greater improvements than the unrestricted voucher did in terms of fruit and vegetable consumption or Healthy Eating Index (HEI) score. Weekly vouchers also failed to yield significantly greater improvements than monthly vouchers did. Proposed policies to make assistance more restricted or more frequent, while holding benefit value constant, might not improve nutrition among low-income Americans.