Impacts of Nutrition Policy on Food Insecurity and Individual Health in the United States: A Narrative Review

Food insecurity remains a persistent and inequitable public health issue in the United States, disproportionately affecting low-income households, communities of color, and rural populations. Despite an abundant national food supply, systemic barriers to accessing nutritious food continue to undermine health equity. As food insecurity rates climb in the postpandemic period and the 2025 Farm Bill was recently reauthorized, this policy moment presents a critical opportunity to reassess the United States' food system. This narrative review synthesizes recent literature at the intersection of food insecurity, nutrition policy, and public health, with the objective of evaluating how current agricultural subsidies and nutrition assistance programs shape dietary quality and chronic disease risk. Drawing from a range of peer-reviewed studies and federal reports, the review explores the economic and structural conditions that influence food affordability, consumption patterns, and health outcomes. Findings highlight 3 key takeaways: first, food insecurity is consistently linked to poor diet quality and higher risks of cardiometabolic disease, obesity, and mental health issues across the life course. Second, agricultural subsidies disproportionately support commodity crops used in ultraprocessed foods, whereas investments in fruits and vegetables remain limited-perpetuating a cost gap that discourages healthy eating. Third, although nutrition assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children play a vital role in alleviating food hardship, they face structural limitations that hinder their ability to address upstream drivers of poor dietary intake. Together, these insights underscore the urgent need to realign United States' food and nutrition policies toward equity, prevention, and affordability. By strengthening support for nutrition-sensitive agriculture and expanding access to healthy foods, policymakers can reduce chronic disease burdens and promote long-term improvements in population health. This review aims to inform forward-looking policy solutions that address food insecurity not just as an issue of hunger, but as a fundamental determinant of public health.