Author Affiliations: Department of Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts (john.cook@bmc.org).
To the Editor: The Commentary by Drs Brownell and Ludwig1 about limiting purchases of sugar-sweetened beverages with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds misses an important point. SNAP is an effective program for addressing food insecurity.2 It is intended to supplement resources available to families for buying food and was not designed to police the healthfulness of food purchases. Screening SNAP purchases for healthfulness is not feasible without unacceptable increases in costs.3 Moreover, in caloric or glycemic index terms, juice, sports drinks, and other flavored water drinks can be as obesogenic as soda, depending on the level of intake and consumers' activity levels. Where and how does one draw the line? Until healthful food is accessible and affordable in all communities, modifying SNAP in an effort to reduce recipients' consumption of unhealthful foods will cost more and leave less to help families put food on the table.
Conflict of Interest Disclosures: The author has completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Dr Cook reported that he works as a paid consultant for Feeding America, the National Food Bank network.
Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature
Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal
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