While filling up at a gas station recently, Janell Britton’s vision started to darken and blur, and her body broke out into a sweat. She suffers from hypoglycemia, a condition characterized by chronic low blood sugar, and she was minutes away from passing out. Having used all her cash to get gas, Britton pulled out her SNAP card to purchase soda, the cheapest and quickest way for her body to get sugar.
With new SNAP purchase restrictions, this method for instant relief will no longer be available to her.
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As of April 1, Texans in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also informally called food stamps, can no longer use benefits to purchase sweetened beverages and candy. While they agree that diabetics and hypoglycemics should eat nutritious foods to prevent their conditions from worsening, health experts and those with these chronic conditions also say the new SNAP restrictions will prevent them from quickly accessing sugar when their blood sugar levels drop to dangerously low levels. They say these restrictions result in inequitable treatment of people on SNAP because their wealthier peers who have these conditions can purchase these food items more easily.
“By restricting certain foods, it inadvertently sets people such as myself up for an emergency,” said Britton, who works as a substitute teacher in Everman near Fort Worth. “This is a life-threatening situation and can end badly. It may sound good on paper, but in practice, it is not a good thing.”
Several diabetics and their family members also expressed similar concerns on Texas Health and Human Services’ Facebook post announcing the SNAP changes. “Diabetics with hypoglycemia require sugar like in candies and juices to avoid going into a coma,” one comment reads. Other comments say, “My son is an insulin dependent diabetic what is he supposed to do?” and “My husband drops low a lot, we can’t afford sodas or juices. He can’t drink orange juice. He is a kidney failure patient.”
Supporters of last year’s Senate Bill 379, which created these SNAP restrictions, have said the legislation aims to curb the consumption of unhealthy foods. Sen. Mayes Middleton, the Galveston Republican who authored the bill, has said taxpayers are funding the purchase of sweetened beverages and candy that worsen health conditions among SNAP beneficiaries and result in “taxpayer-funded health care.”
Middleton, who is running for attorney general, did not respond to a request for comment. The Texas Tribune also reached out to the chairs of the Senate and House health committees, Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, and Rep. Gary Vandeaver, R-New Boston, and neither responded to concerns the SNAP restrictions have on diabetics and hypoglycemics.
Hypoglycemia and diabetes are conditions caused by issues with the body’s production of insulin, the vital hormone that regulates blood sugar, or glucose, levels. Those with hypoglycemia experience low glucose levels. While people with diabetes naturally have higher-than-normal glucose levels, their use of insulin medication can sometimes cause glucose levels to drop. Drops in glucose can lead to diabetic coma — a life threatening disorder that causes unconsciousness.
Since Britton’s diagnosis a year and a half ago, she has experienced hypoglycemic episodes once every other month.
Britton was a stay-at-home mom for 25 years until an unexpected divorce forced her to take whatever job she could find. She got on SNAP after becoming injured on a job where she was loading trucks and had to stop working. Britton said she used her benefits to purchase soda and candies that she keeps in an emergency pack for when unpredictable hypoglycemic episodes occur.
“I’m having to put the money that I normally put toward paying my bills … I’m now going to have to set aside an amount just for making sure that I have hard candies and soda available for making sure that I have hard candies and soda available,” Britton said.
SNAP feeds about 3.1 million low-income residents, including about 1.5 million children in Texas, as of March. An individual qualifies for SNAP if they make $2,152 a month or less, and a family of four qualifies if they make $4,421 a month or less. Texas households receive an average payment of nearly $400 per month.
Eating excessive amounts of candy and sweetened drinks contribute to obesity and the development of type 2 diabetes. Factors such as health care access, housing, education, and income impact people’s health and poverty increases the risk of obesity and diabetes. Because of that connection, experts say many people who have type 2 diabetes and live in poverty are on SNAP. When asked, Texas Health and Human Services Commission officials did not say how many Texans on SNAP are also diabetic.
Chris Carmona, Texas Diabetes Council Chair, said restricting SNAP purchases of candy and sweetened drinks is a reasonable public health measure, especially at a time when obesity and type 2 diabetes rates are rising.
“The important point is that there are effective ways to treat low blood sugar that do not depend on sugary sodas or candy,” Carmona said.
People who previously have relied on candy or sugary beverages to stabilize blood sugar levels can switch to using fruit juice, honey, or glucose tablets, Sarah Williams-Blangero, South Texas Diabetes and Obesity Institute Chair, recommends.
In a hypoglycemic episode, the priority is to raise blood sugar quickly. Britton says she prefers soda over glucose tablets because soda is liquid and she absorbs it quicker.
“At that moment, when you feel shaky or like you might pass out, you want something that works fast and is easy to take — and for many people, that’s soda,” Britton said.
Many on SNAP also live in food deserts and may not have access to alternative quick fixes for hypoglycemic episodes or fresh fruits and vegetables, according to Julie Zuniga, a researcher and nursing professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Instead of implementing purchase restrictions to help people on SNAP improve their diets, the state should better address food deserts and increase educational outreach on how to eat better, Zuniga said.
“Sometimes we’re at a loss on how to eat well and how to feed our bodies without having very much money. If we look, what [SNAP enrollees] are buying isn’t much different than people who don’t have SNAP,” Zuniga said. “I don’t think that just taking this away will change behaviors. There’s ways to improve people’s diets that’s more collaborative and compassionate.”
Nancy Guillet, another UT nursing professor, works at an Austin charity clinic that provides diabetes management classes to those living in poverty. She said the patients have very poor knowledge about diabetes, so the program educates them about what the condition is, the medication they’re taking, and how to monitor blood sugar.
She said for families who are just trying to survive, their kids miss the opportunities to learn about and prioritize health.
“Let’s say my parents live in poverty, and they have to work day and night … just to pay the rent. Healthy nutrition is not there,” Guillet said. “People in poverty, they have everything against them to succeed.”
The latest restrictions are among several recent Republican-backed changes to SNAP. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that went into effect in July, able-bodied individuals ages 18 through 65 without dependents must work or attend a work program for at least 80 hours per month to receive benefits and only certain lawful permanent residents and U.S. citizens can be SNAP eligible. The bill also announced new rules that force each state to improve the number of times officials overpay or underpay SNAP recipients, or face financial penalties.
The Texas Human Health Services Commission will survey SNAP recipients to determine if the changes are leading to healthier food choices.
Celia Cole, chief executive officer of Feeding Texas, the state’s umbrella organization for food banks, said the key question for evaluation is whether these restrictions actually reduce overall consumption of sodas and candy, not just purchases made with SNAP.
“Bringing about behavioral change is hard,” Cole said. “Nutrition education and evidence-based behavioral change interventions that help people understand what foods are best for their health should be part of the solution as well.”
Disclosure: Facebook, Feeding Texas and University of Texas at Austin have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.