Harvesting More Than Vegetables: The Potential Weight Control Benefits of Community Gardening

Objectives. We examined the association of participation in community gardening with healthy body weight.Methods. We examined body mass index (BMI) data from 198 community gardening participants in Salt Lake City, Utah, in relationship to BMI data for 3 comparison groups: neighbors, siblings, and spouses. In comparisons, we adjusted for gender, age, and the year of the BMI measurement.Results. Both women and men community gardeners had significantly lower BMIs than did their neighbors who were not in the community gardening program. The estimated BMI reductions in the multivariate analyses were −1.84 for women and −2.36 for men. We also observed significantly lower BMIs for women community gardeners compared with their sisters (−1.88) and men community gardeners compared with their brothers (−1.33). Community gardeners also had lower odds of being overweight or obese than did their otherwise similar neighbors.Conclusions. The health benefits of community gardening may go beyond enhancing the gardeners’ intake of fruits and vegetables. Community gardens may be a valuable element of land use diversity that merits consideration by public health officials who want to identify neighborhood features that promote health.There were more than 18 000 community gardens in the United States and Canada in 2011, and their numbers are growing.1 Researchers assessing the impact of community gardening have concluded that they confer social benefits to neighborhoods2–5 as well as nutritional,6–11 physical activity,9,12,13 and general health9,13,14 benefits to participating gardeners. However, many of these studies rely on data from small numbers of gardeners8–10,12,14 or surveys with very low cooperation rates (i.e., 8%–15%).6,13 These methodological shortcomings have led to calls for more rigorous quantitative investigations of community gardens’ benefits.15,16 We used unique administrative data to examine the relationship between community gardening and a previously unexamined outcome, body mass index (BMI; defined as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters).We focused on BMI and the associated risk of being overweight or obese, as they are summary measures that jointly reflect caloric intake and physical activity. The decision to garden likely influences both caloric intake and physical activity. Overweight and obesity are known risk factors for numerous life-threatening health conditions, including coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes. Thus, any observed relationship between gardening and the risk of being overweight or obese may also have implications for other health outcomes.Ideally, community gardening would be assessed by a random assignment of people to garden or to a control group of nongardeners. This would ensure that any differences observed between the 2 groups were a function of gardening rather than of other participant characteristics.17 Because we did not have the ability to randomly assign people to gardening treatment and control groups, we utilized a posttest-only comparison group design to assess the impact of community gardening on BMI.18 This quasi-experimental design had the advantage of maximizing the power of our study by relaxing the need for both pregardening and postgardening BMI observations that would be available for only a select subset of our gardeners. In addition, it allowed for the inclusion of multiple comparison groups. However, we could not make strong statements regarding causal inferences with the posttest-only comparison group because of the selection threats inherent in the study design.18Our treatment group consisted of community gardeners. We compared the BMIs of these gardeners to their counterparts in 3 control groups: (1) unrelated individuals who lived in the gardeners’ neighborhoods, (2) siblings of the community gardeners, and (3) the spouses of the community gardeners (i.e., comparing women [men] gardeners to the wives [husbands] of men [women] gardeners). Comparisons of gardeners with these 3 groups had the potential to provide unique insights. Unrelated individuals living in the same neighborhood share the same physical environment (e.g., opportunities for walking and other physical activities, proximity to retail food outlets) and are likely to be of similar socioeconomic status as the gardeners. Same-gender adult siblings may or may not share socioeconomic status or neighborhood residential characteristics, but they do share familial genetic predispositions for body types and they may share eating and exercise preferences that were established growing up in the same family. Finally, spouses of gardeners likely share the nutritional benefits of the produce that is harvested. They may also participate in some community gardening activities along with their partners who garden, and these activities may increase their energy expenditures. Thus, we hypothesized that we would observe the largest BMI differences between community gardeners and the unrelated individuals in their neighborhoods; that we would observe smaller differences between the community gardeners and their siblings; and that BMI differences between community gardeners and their spouses would be very small or nonexistent.     

A survey of community gardens in upstate New York: implications for health promotion and community development

Twenty community garden programs in upstate New York (representing 63 gardens) were surveyed to identify characteristics that may be useful to facilitate neighborhood development and health promotion. The most commonly expressed reasons for participating in gardens were access to fresh foods, to enjoy nature, and health benefits. Gardens in low-income neighborhoods (46%) were four times as likely as non low-income gardens to lead to other issues in the neighborhood being addressed; reportedly due to organizing facilitated through the community gardens. Additional research on community gardening can improve our understanding of the interaction of social and physical environments and community health, and effective strategies for empowerment, development, and health promotion.     

Experiences of gardening during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic

Gardening has the potential to improve health and wellbeing, especially during crises. Using an international survey of gardeners (n = 3743), this study aimed to understand everyday gardening experiences, perspectives and attitudes during early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Our qualitative reflexive thematic and sentiment analyses show that during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, gardening seemed to create a safe and positive space where people could socially connect, learn and be creative. Participants had more time to garden during the pandemic, which led to enhanced connections with family members and neighbours, and the ability to spend time in a safe outdoor environment. More time gardening allowed for innovative and new gardening practices that provided enjoyment for many participants. However, our research also highlighted barriers to gardening (e.g. lack of access to garden spaces and materials). Our results illustrate the multiple benefits of gardening apparent during COVID-19 through a lens of the social-ecological model of health.     

Food Gardeners’ Productivity in Laramie,Wyoming: More Than a Hobby

Objectives. We quantified the productivity of food gardens in Laramie, Wyoming, over 3 growing seasons.Methods. From 2012 to 2014, 33 participating gardening households weighed and recorded each harvest. Academic partners measured plot sizes and converted reported harvest weights to volume in cups.Results. The yield of the average 253-square-foot plot was enough to supply an adult with the daily US Department of Agriculture–recommended amount of vegetables for 9 months.Conclusions. Gardeners produced nutritionally meaningful quantities of food; thus, food gardening offers promise as an effective public health intervention for improving food security and nutritional health.In the United States, major public health nutrition problems include low vegetable consumption, high food insecurity and obesity rates, and lack of access to a local grocery store.1–3 Growing vegetables in home and community gardens offers a promising strategy for improving these issues. A large body of observational research suggests that home and community food gardening yields a wide range of health benefits, including improved fruit and vegetable consumption, activity levels, and mental health.4–7However, only a handful of studies have documented how much food gardens yield (Table A, available as a supplement to the online version of this article at http://www.ajph.org), and none have quantified these harvests in terms of vegetable servings provided. We have added to this emerging literature by (1) quantifying harvest results in a climate zone that is more challenging for growing than are the locations of previous studies, (2) quantifying results over 3 growing seasons, (3) calculating harvest values in nutritional terms as servings of vegetables yielded, and (4) quantifying how gardeners used their harvests, whether eaten immediately, stored, or shared.     

Collective efficacy in Denver, Colorado: Strengthening neighborhoods and health through community gardens

Community gardens are viewed as a potentially useful environmental change strategy to promote active and healthy lifestyles but the scientific evidence base for gardens is limited. As a step towards understanding whether gardens are a viable health promotion strategy for local communities, we set out to examine the social processes that might explain the connection between gardens, garden participation and health. We analyzed data from semi-structured interviews with community gardeners in Denver. The analysis examined social processes described by community gardeners and how those social processes were cultivated by or supportive of activities in community gardens. After presenting results describing these social processes and the activities supporting them, we discuss the potential for the place-based social processes found in community gardens to support collective efficacy, a powerful mechanism for enhancing the role of gardens in promoting health.     

The meanings attributed to community gardening: A qualitative study

Whilst the geographical, sociological, and ecological roles of community gardens have been explored previously, the meanings associated with community gardening are unclear. This narrative inquiry study aimed to understand the meanings attributed to community gardening from an occupational science perspective. Photo elicitation was used alongside narrative interviewing with eight metropolitan South Australian community gardeners. Narrative analysis highlighted five themes: a sense of community; a chance to share; an opportunity to grow; a therapeutic place; ecological contributions. These themes aligned with four dimensions of meaning theorised in the occupational science literature – doing, being, belonging and becoming – with doing and belonging being most evident in our study. Health professionals are encouraged to consider community gardens as places that provide clients with opportunities for enhancing these dimensions of meaning, through engaging in a range of activities, experiencing a sense of belonging and strengthening their identity. By adopting an occupational science lens, these findings provide a new perspective on the importance of engaging in community gardening.     

Community Gardens for Refugee and Immigrant Communities as a Means of Health Promotion

Refugees and new immigrants arriving in the United States (U.S.) often encounter a multitude of stressors adjusting to a new country and potentially coping with past traumas. Community gardens have been celebrated for their role in improving physical and emotional health, and in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, have been offered as a resource to immigrants and refugees. The purpose of this study is to present a mixed method evaluation of a refugee gardening project hosted by area churches serving primarily Karen and Bhutanese populations. Quantitative data were obtained from early and late season surveys (44 and 45 % response rates, respectively), and seven focus groups conducted at the end of the season provided qualitative data. Although few gardeners (4 %) identified food insecurity as a problem, 86 % indicated that they received some food subsidy, and 78 % reported vegetable intake increased between the early and late season surveys. Twelve percent of gardeners indicated possible depression using the PHQ-2 scale; in focus groups numerous respondents identified the gardens as a healing space for their depression or anxiety. Refugee gardeners expressed receiving physical and emotional benefits from gardening, including a sense of identity with their former selves. Gardens may serve as a meaningful health promotion intervention for refugees and immigrants adjusting to the complexity of their new lives in the U.S. and coping with past traumas.     

Vegetable Output and Cost Savings of Community Gardens in San Jose,California

Urban dwellers across the United States increasingly access a variety of fresh vegetables through participation in neighborhood-level community gardens. Here we document vegetable output and cost savings of community gardens in the city of San Jose, CA, to better understand the capacity of community gardens to affect food affordability in an urban setting. A convenience sample of 83 community gardeners in San Jose completed a background survey during spring and summer 2012. On average, gardeners were aged 57 years and had a monthly income of $4,900; 25% had completed college. A representative subset of 10 gardeners was recruited to weigh vegetable output of their plots using portable electronic scales at three separate garden sites. Accuracy of each portable scale was verified by comparing the weight of a sample vegetable to weights obtained using a lab scale precise to 0.2 oz. Garden yields and cost savings were tabulated overall for each plot. Results indicate that community garden practices are more similar to biointensive high-production farming, producing 0.75 lb vegetables/sq ft, rather than conventional agricultural practices, producing 0.60 lb/sq ft. Gardens produced on average 2.55 lb/plant and saved $435 per plot for the season. Results indicate that cost savings are greatest if vertical high value crops such as tomatoes and peppers are grown in community gardens, although yields depend on growing conditions, gardener's skill, availability of water, and other factors. Future research is needed to document cost savings and yields for specific crops grown in community gardens.     

“Hey,We Can Do This Together”: Findings from an Evaluation of a Multi-sectoral Community Coalition

Multi-sectoral coalitions focused on systemic health inequities are commonly promoted as important mechanisms to facilitate changes with lasting impacts on population health. However, the development and implementation of such initiatives present significant challenges, and evaluation results are commonly inconclusive. In an effort to add to the evidence base, we conducted a mixed-methods evaluation of the Claremont Healthy Village Initiative, a multi-sectoral partnership based in the Bronx, New York City. At an organizational level, there were positive outcomes with respect to expanded services, increased access to resources for programs, improved linkages, better coordination, and empowerment of local leaders—all consistent with a systemic, community building approach to change. Direct impacts on community members were more difficult to assess: perceived access to health and other services improved, while community violence and poor sanitation, which were also priorities for community members, remained important challenges. Findings suggest significant progress, as well as continued need.     

“We need our own food,to grow our own veggies…” Remote Aboriginal food gardens in the Top End of Australia's Northern Territory

Objective: Remote Aboriginal community gardens (gardens) frequently operate below their full potential. A set of gardening sustainability principles may improve their planning, operation and long‐term sustainability. This paper aims to document the principles of sustainability of non‐profit remote Aboriginal community gardens in the Top End of the Northern Territory. Methods: Throughout 2011, gardens in the Top End of the Northern Territory were visited. Interviews and observational data were used to explore the principles of garden sustainability with participants. Subsequent iterative thematic analysis informed development of a set of gardening sustainability principles. Results: Principles of sustainability included effective garden planning; community autonomy, consultation and engagement; growing community vetted crops; employing long‐term, effective, culturally sensitive managers; long‐term, transparent funding organisations and cycles; garden integration into existing food supply chains; culturally appropriate employment arrangements; and physical aspects of successful gardening. Conclusions: This work uniquely consults gardeners, managers and Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal people of both genders in the largest reported study of its type, resulting in new and expanded findings, particularly including new social factors for gardening success. Implications: Expanding the understanding of what makes gardens work to include the important social factors identified here may have merit.     

Impact of a Community Gardening Project on Vegetable Intake, Food Security and Family Relationships: A Community-based Participatory Research Study

This community-based participatory research project used popular education techniques to support and educate Hispanic farmworker families in planting and maintaining organic gardens. Measures included a pre- post gardening survey, key informant interviews and observations made at community-based gardening meetings to assess food security, safety and family relationships. Thirty-eight families enrolled in the study during the pre-garden time period, and four more families enrolled in the study during the post-garden period, for a total of 42 families enrolled in the 2009 gardening season. Of the families enrolled during the pre-gardening time period there were 163 household members. The mean age of the interviewee was 44.0, ranging from 21 to 78 years of age. The median number of occupants in a household was 4.0 (range: 2-8), Frequency of adult vegetable intake of "Several time a day" increased from 18.2 to 84.8%, (P < 0.001) and frequency of children's vegetable intake of "Several time a day" increased from 24.0 to 64.0%, (P = 0.003). Before the gardening season, the sum of the frequencies of "Sometimes" and "Frequently" worrying in the past month that food would run out before money was available to buy more was 31.2% and the sum of these frequencies dropped to 3.1% during the post garden period, (P = 0.006). The frequency of skipping meals due to lack of money was not statistically significantly different before and after the gardening season for either adults or children. Analysis of text responses and key informant interviews revealed that physical and mental health benefits were reported as well as economic and family health benefits from the gardening study, primarily because the families often worked in their gardens together. A community gardening program can reduce food insecurity, improve dietary intake and strengthen family relationships.     

Community gardens: lessons learned from California Healthy Cities and Communities

Community gardens enhance nutrition and physical activity and promote the role of public health in improving quality of life. Opportunities to organize around other issues and build social capital also emerge through community gardens. California Healthy Cities and Communities (CHCC) promotes an inclusionary and systems approach to improving community health. CHCC has funded community-based nutrition and physical activity programs in several cities. Successful community gardens were developed by many cities incorporating local leadership and resources, volunteers and community partners, and skills-building opportunities for participants. Through community garden initiatives, cities have enacted policies for interim land and complimentary water use, improved access to produce, elevated public consciousness about public health, created culturally appropriate educational and training materials, and strengthened community building skills.     

Allotment gardening and health: a comparative survey among allotment gardeners and their neighbors without an allotment

Background  

The potential contribution of allotment gardens to a healthy and active life-style is increasingly recognized, especially for elderly populations. However, few studies have empirically examined beneficial effects of allotment gardening. In the present study the health, well-being and physical activity of older and younger allotment gardeners was compared to that of controls without an allotment.     

Features and impacts of five multidisciplinary community–university research partnerships

Despite the increasing number of multidisciplinary community–university research partnerships designed to address real-world issues, little is known about their nature. This article describes the features and impacts of five research partnerships addressing health or social service issues, which constituted a convenience sample from the province of Ontario, Canada. The article describes their characteristics, ways of operating, outputs, types of requests received from community members and mid-term impacts. Requests directed to partnerships were tracked over a 10-month period in 2003 to 2004, using a research contact checklist, and 174 community members later completed an impact questionnaire capturing perceptions of the impacts of the partnerships on personal knowledge and research skill development, organisational/group access to and use of information, and community and organisational development. The data indicated that partnerships had similar priorities and magnitudes of mid-term impacts, yet differed in the scope of their partnering, realm of intended influence and the number of mechanisms used to engage and communicate with target audiences. The partnerships produced different types of outputs and received different types of requests from community members. The findings inform researchers about partnership diversity and help to establish more realistic expectations about the magnitude of partnerships' impacts.     

Process Evaluation of a Community Garden at an Urban Outpatient Clinic

In addition to expediting patient recovery, community gardens that are associated with medical facilities can provide fresh produce to patients and their families, serve as a platform for clinic-based nutrition education, and help patients develop new skills and insights that can lead to positive health behavior change. While community gardening is undergoing resurgence, there is a strong need for evaluation studies that employ valid and reliable measures. The objective of this study was to conduct a process evaluation of a community garden program at an urban medical clinic to estimate the prevalence of patient awareness and participation, food security, barriers to participation, and personal characteristics; garden volunteer satisfaction; and clinic staff perspectives in using the garden for patient education/treatment. Clinic patients (n?=?411) completed a community garden participation screener and a random sample completed a longer evaluation survey (n?=?152); garden volunteers and medical staff completed additional surveys. Among patients, 39% had heard of and 18% had received vegetables from the garden; the greatest barrier for participation was lack of awareness. Volunteers reported learning about gardening, feeling more involved in the neighborhood, and environmental concern; and medical staff endorsed the garden for patient education/treatment. Comprehensive process evaluations can be utilized to quantify benefits of community gardens in medical centers as well as to point out areas for further development, such as increasing patient awareness. As garden programming at medical centers is formalized, future research should include systematic evaluations to determine whether this unique component of the healthcare environment helps improve patient outcomes.     

Reducing child malnutrition in Nigeria: combined effects of income growth and provision of information about mothers' access to health care services

Using a sample of 1359 Nigerian households from the 2003 Demographic and Health Surveys, this article investigates the contribution of improved maternal information about access to community health services toward the reduction of child stunting and undernourishment. The analysis shows that family wealth and region-specific knowledge about community health care access positively affects child nutrition status measured by height-for-age and weight-for-age. However, these nutrition gains can be reinforced or tempered by differences in mother's education and/or her access to community health services. These findings suggest that interventions which enhance public knowledge about availability and access to health care could strengthen more general development-oriented child nutrition-enhancing interventions, such as poverty reduction or growth in health services infrastructure.     

Diabetes on the Navajo nation: what role can gardening and agriculture extension play to reduce it?

Diabetes has emerged as a serious health problem in the Navajo nation, the largest Indigenous tribe in the US. Persons with diabetes are at greater risk for developing other diseases such as cardiovascular disease. Navajos with diabetes almost certainly face a diminished quality of life if their diabetes is not managed properly. Aside from genetics, the incidence of diabetes is highly correlated with income, poor diet, and limited physical exercise. A review of the literature also implicates dietary shifts initiated by historical events and contemporary trends. Numerous studies have shown that moderate consumption of fruits and vegetables, combined with exercise, reduces the risk of or delays the onset of many diseases including diabetes. As part of a larger holistic approach, home and community garden projects have successfully addressed nutrition and food security issues on a grassroots scale. The Navajos have a tradition of farming and therefore expanding Navajo diabetes interventions to include the promotion of community and home gardens provides multiple opportunities. The benefits of these actions include: (i) a variety of nutritious food grown locally; (ii) physical activity attained through the act of daily gardening tasks; (iii) positive income garnered in terms of savings in food otherwise purchased at stores and excess produce canned, or if desired, sold at a farmer's market or trading post; and (iv) positive mental outlook through a combined sense of accomplishment at harvest time, bonding with the earth, and spiritual growth. The objectives of this article were to review the development of diabetes on the Navajo nation though historical and contemporary literature, to provide insight into the role of diet and exercise in the progression of the disease, and to offer cases and suggestions in the role that home and community gardening can play in diabetes reduction. A concluding discussion proposes a multidisciplinary approach to tackling diabetes on the Navajo nation involving public health officials, nutritionists, and horticultural extension agents that could also be applied internationally in similar multicultural, semi-arid climates.     

Gardening in the desert: a spatial optimization approach to locating gardens in rapidly expanding urban environments

Background

Food access is a global issue, and for this reason, a wealth of studies are dedicated to understanding the location of food deserts and the benefits of urban gardens. However, few studies have linked these two strands of research together to analyze whether urban gardening activity may be a step forward in addressing issues of access for food desert residents.

Methods

The Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area is used as a case to demonstrate the utility of spatial optimization models for siting urban gardens near food deserts and on vacant land. The locations of urban gardens are derived from a list obtained from the Maricopa County Cooperative Extension office at the University of Arizona which were geo located and aggregated to Census tracts. Census tracts were then assigned to one of three categories: tracts that contain a garden, tracts that are immediately adjacent to a tract with a garden, and all other non-garden/non-adjacent census tracts. Analysis of variance is first used to ascertain whether there are statistical differences in the demographic, socio-economic, and land use profiles of these three categories of tracts. A maximal covering spatial optimization model is then used to identify potential locations for future gardening activities. A constraint of these models is that gardens be located on vacant land, which is a growing problem in rapidly urbanizing environments worldwide.

Results

The spatial analysis of garden locations reveals that they are centrally located in tracts with good food access. Thus, the current distribution of gardens does not provide an alternative food source to occupants of food deserts. The maximal covering spatial optimization model reveals that gardens could be sited in alternative locations to better serve food desert residents. In fact, 53 gardens may be located to cover 96.4% of all food deserts. This is an improvement over the current distribution of gardens where 68 active garden sites provide coverage to a scant 8.4% of food desert residents.

Conclusion

People in rapidly urbanizing environments around the globe suffer from poor food access. Rapid rates of urbanization also present an unused vacant land problem in cities around the globe. This paper highlights how spatial optimization models can be used to improve healthy food access for food desert residents, which is a critical first step in ameliorating the health problems associated with lack of healthy food access including heart disease and obesity.

     

Community Networks and Health Information Providers: A Natural Partnership

Abstract

The model of the community network has many applications for health service organizations wishing to disseminate information to a broad base of the population. This article discusses the development of community networks, and the benefits these networks offer health information providers and members of the community in an era when increasing emphasis is being placed on the individual's responsibility for health and wellness. The evolution of the partnership between health information providers and community networks is discussed by looking at the development of the Saskatoon Free-Net's Health and Wellness area.