New CU Boulder research published in the journal Lancet Planetary Health This suggests that adding horticulture to our list of targets for 2023 could make a significant impact.
The first randomized, controlled trial of community gardening funded by the American Cancer Society revealed that individuals who Started gardening Eat more fiber and get more exercise—two recognized strategies for weight loss Cancer risk and chronic diseases. They also saw a significant reduction in their stress and anxiety levels.
Jill Litt, senior author and professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has devoted much of her career to finding practical, scalable and sustainable ways to reduce disease risk, particularly In income communities.
“No matter where you go, people say there’s something about gardening that makes them feel better,” Medical News According to Litt, who is also a researcher at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health.
However, reliable scientific evidence of its benefits is scarce. He claimed that it is difficult to gain support for new programs without evidence.
According to some small observational studies, people who garden tend to eat more fruits and vegetables and have a healthier weight. But it’s not clear whether gardening affects health or whether healthy people just garden.
Only three studies have examined recreation using a randomized controlled trial, the gold standard of scientific study. No one has specifically examined community gardening.
Litt recruited 291 non-gardening adults from the Denver area with an average age of 41 to fill in the blanks. More than half were from low-income households, and more than a third were Hispanic.
The control group was instructed to wait a year before starting gardening, and the community gardening group received half of the participants after the last spring frost.
The nonprofit Denver Urban Gardens Program and a study partner provided the gardening group with a free community garden plot, some seeds and plants, and an introductory gardening workshop.
Both groups measured their bodies regularly, completed surveys about their eating habits and mental health, and wore activity trackers.
By fall, those in the gardening group were consuming 1.4 grams more fiber per day—or about 7%—on average than those in the control group.
Fiber has a significant impact on immunological and inflammatory responses, affecting everything from our ability to digest food to the health of our gut flora to our susceptibility to diabetes and certain types of cancer, the authors said. .
Despite doctors’ recommendations of 25 to 38 grams, the average adult eats only 16 grams of fiber per day.
Additionally, the gardening group increased their weekly physical activity by approximately 42 minutes. Only 25% of Americans meet public health agencies’ recommendation of at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week. Participants met 28% of this requirement with only two to three weekly visits to the community garden.
Trial participants reported lower levels of stress and anxiety, with the greatest improvement in mental health problems seen among those who entered the study with the highest levels of stress and anxiety.
The study also showed that even inexperienced gardeners can experience meaningful health benefits in their first growing season. Litt believes that these benefits will increase as they acquire more knowledge and skills and experience higher returns.