Home gardening in urban poor communities of the Philippines

The deficiencies of micronutrients, in particular iron and vitamin A, are common in the Philippines, but their control measures through supplementation and fortification have shown several weaknesses. The present study examines the outcomes of a community-based approach including promotion of home gardening and a diversified dietary practice. A total of 152 mothers in two poor urban communities in Davao City, the Philippines were interviewed with a structured questionnaire. Participants were also asked to keep a brief 7-day self-administered household food record. Focus group discussions were conducted to obtain in-depth information on their attitudes toward home gardening and vegetable consumption. Home garden produce contributed to the diversification of carbohydrate consumed among participants. However, home garden produce reduced the consumption of protein-rich food. There was therefore no discernible improvement in the diets of participants from the consumption of home garden produce. In communities where there was no greengrocer, respondents shared the produce from home gardens. The community-based diet improvement program facilitated home gardening practices, which influenced the dietary practices of the urban poor. The monitoring of food consumption together with community-based programs needs to be expanded in urban poor communities. Our focus group discussion revealed that there was a cognition linking home gardening and vegetable consumption to poverty among some of the participants. More study is necessary on this finding.     

Home gardening in urban poor communities of the Philippines

The deficiencies of micronutrients, in particular iron and vitamin A, are common in the Philippines, but their control measures through supplementation and fortification have shown several weaknesses. The present study examines the outcomes of a community-based approach including promotion of home gardening and a diversified dietary practice. A total of 152 mothers in two poor urban communities in Davao City, the Philippines were interviewed with a structured questionnaire. Participants were also asked to keep a brief 7-day self-administered household food record. Focus group discussions were conducted to obtain in-depth information on their attitudes toward home gardening and vegetable consumption. Home garden produce contributed to the diversification of carbohydrate consumed among participants. However, home garden produce reduced the consumption of protein-rich food. There was therefore no discernible improvement in the diets of participants from the consumption of home garden produce. In communities where there was no greengrocer, respondents shared the produce from home gardens. The community-based diet improvement program facilitated home gardening practices, which influenced the dietary practices of the urban poor. The monitoring of food consumption together with community-based programs needs to be expanded in urban poor communities. Our focus group discussion revealed that there was a cognition linking home gardening and vegetable consumption to poverty among some of the participants. More study is necessary on this finding.     

Women's strategies to alleviate nutritional stress in a rural African society

Many agricultural populations are subject to chronic or seasonal undernutrition, reproductive women and children often being most vulnerable. This paper presents quantitative and qualitative data on food consumption, food distribution practices, food taboos, garden sizes and work effort to show how Lese horticulturalist women living in the Ituri Forest of northeast Democratic Republic of Congo attempt to alleviate nutritional stress. The Lese experience an annual hunger season when approximately one quarter of the population suffer from energy deficiency. Nutritional intake is also compromised by a complex system of food taboos against meat from wild forest animals. Anthropometric data collected over several years suggest that Lese women suffer from nutritional stress more than men during the hunger season. They also have more food taboos particularly during pregnancy and lactation. Their low fertility is compounded by nutritional stress. Despite these inequities, Lese women use several strategies to improve their food intake. Since they are responsible for all household cooking, they manipulate food portions. During the hunger season, they snack frequently, and increase their consumption of palliative foods. Women with more food taboos plant larger gardens to supplement their diet with vegetable foods. Although this results in their consumption of more daily protein, they work harder compared to women with smaller gardens. Women cheat in their adherence to specific food taboos by actively discounting them, or by eating prophylactic plants that supposedly prevent the consequences (usually illness) of eating tabooed foods. In addition, women resort to subterfuge to access desirable resources. Lese women do not reduce work effort during the hunger season, but adapt physiologically by reducing resting metabolic rates during periods of weight loss. These results point to the ability of Lese women to minimize the ecological and cultural constraints on their nutrition. More data, however, are required to assess the long-term effectiveness of these strategies.     

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.     

Home gardening is associated with Filipino preschool children's dietary diversity

Dietary diversification through home gardening is a sustainable strategy that can address multiple micronutrient deficiencies. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the association between home gardening and the dietary diversity of preschool-aged children. Households with children aged 2 to 5 years (n=200) were surveyed from Baras and Angono in the province of Rizal, Philippines in January 2008. Food security was determined based on the US Department of Agriculture Food Security Questionnaire. Dietary diversity score was based on the number of unique food groups consumed during the past 24 hours. The Student t test was performed to compare means between groups (households with gardens vs households without gardens) whereas proportions between groups were compared using Pearson's χ² analyses. Multiple linear regression was performed to model the adjusted regression coefficients for the quantitative outcome variables by exposure variable. Around 52.5% of children were from households with a fruit and/or vegetable garden. Children from households with gardens had higher dietary diversity scores whether using the all-inclusive dietary diversity score (6.12 vs 5.62; P=0.040) or applying a 10-g minimum intake for each food group (5.89 vs 5.37; P=0.044) compared with children who lived in homes without a garden. Children from households with gardens were significantly more likely to eat vegetables more frequently (χ²=9.06; P=0.029). The presence or absence of a garden was not significantly associated with food security. Having a home garden was positively associated with the child's diet diversity and with frequency of vegetable consumption. Households without gardens may benefit from interventions promoting gardens as a means to improve diet quality.     

四川总膳研究食物消费量的变化

目的 了解四川居民的膳食结构。为制订营养规划提供参考。方法 抽样方法为分层整群抽样法。住户调查为称重三日记帐法,个体调查为24h询问加登记法,与住户调查同时进行。结果 居民食物消费发生了较大变化。日常饮用水中纯净水,瓶装水的比例上升。蔬菜消费提升到第二位,种类明显增多;调味品消费较高（排第五位）;肉类消费量有所上升;谷类消费中仍以大米为主,但是豆类,乳类、蛋类,水产品消费较少。结论 我们应增加奶,蛋,水产品的消费,多吃蔬菜与薯类。少饮酒,少吃腌腊食品,改善人群膳食结构。促进人民身体健康。     

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.     

Growing urban health: community gardening in South-East Toronto

This article describes results from an investigation of the health impacts of community gardening, using Toronto, Ontario as a case study. According to community members and local service organizations, these gardens have a number of positive health benefits. However, few studies have explicitly focused on the health impacts of community gardens, and many of those did not ask community gardeners directly about their experiences in community gardening. This article sets out to fill this gap by describing the results of a community-based research project that collected data on the perceived health impacts of community gardening through participant observation, focus groups and in-depth interviews. Results suggest that community gardens were perceived by gardeners to provide numerous health benefits, including improved access to food, improved nutrition, increased physical activity and improved mental health. Community gardens were also seen to promote social health and community cohesion. These benefits were set against a backdrop of insecure land tenure and access, bureaucratic resistance, concerns about soil contamination and a lack of awareness and understanding by community members and decision-makers. Results also highlight the need for ongoing resources to support gardens in these many roles.     

Dietary Sodium Intake and Its Relation to Human Health: A Summary of the Evidence

Objectives: Relating food diversity, quality, and intake is one of the key aspects in understanding household food security. This paper aimed at marying food intake and quality, both being measurement for food security.

Methods: A household food consumption survey (n = 200) exploring food diversity, quality of foods, and their relation to food intake in Embo, a poor farming community in rural KwaZulu-Natal was carried out in November 2004 (period of insufficiency) and repeated in March 2005 (period of plenty). Household food intake strata were developed using matrices obtained from the Household Food Intake Index and nutritional adequacy ratios. Food quality was measured using food count and later using 5 food groups, namely, starches, vegetables and fruits,animal sourced foods, fats, and legumes.

Results: Single food count showed dietary diversity to be significantly different across households with different food intake during the period of plenty (P ≤ 0.000). During the period of plenty, vegetable and fruits contributed significantly different proportions of energy (P ≤ 0.000), protein (P ≤ 0.006), iron (P ≤ 0.020), and vitamin E (P ≤ 0.006) to household food intake strata. Intake of vitamin A was more elastic as its intake variation from legumes, fats, and animal sourced foods was (P ≤ 0.000), from starches (P ≤ 0.008) and from vegetable and fruits (P ≤ 0.064) during the second round. Starches are the most important food group to the community, whereas fats and animal sourced food groups are less important.

Conclusions: The current study has been able to include food quality in food security studies. Seasonality accounts for variation in food quality. The South African food-based dietary guidelines are relevant to the Embo community.     

Household food security and fruit and vegetable intake among low-income fourth-graders

Objective

To examine the relationship between household food security and children’s and parents’ fruit, vegetable, and breakfast consumption and fruit and vegetable availability.

Design

Cross-sectional study using matched parent-child surveys.

Setting

Title I elementary schools in Maryland.

Participants

Ninety-two low-income parent-child dyads recruited from fourth-grade nutrition education programs completing a baseline evaluation.

Main Outcome Measures

Fruit and vegetable intake, breakfast consumption, and fruit and vegetable availability in home and school.

Analysis

Chi-square tests, 1-way ANOVA.

Results

Thirty-six percent of parents reported low/very low household food security, and both parents and students reported low fruit and vegetable intake. Students from households with low food security who were not participating in school nutrition programs had the lowest vegetable consumption and the fewest number of days consuming breakfast, indicating a relatively greater need for enrollment than their peers.

Conclusions and Implications

Few differences between children in food-secure and food-insecure households were observed, which underscores the need for research on food insecurity and children’s eating behaviors. Examination of other factors influencing fruit and vegetable intake and improvements in food environments and programs are needed. Efforts to increase enrollment among eligible students in school nutrition programs may reduce negative consequences of household food insecurity.     

Impact of a community-based intervention on serving and intake of vegetables among low-income, rural Appalachian families

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of a community-based intervention promoting the serving and eating of deep-orange, cruciferous, and dark-green leafy vegetables.DesignRandomized, parallel-group, community-based intervention with a baseline/postintervention/3-month follow-up design.Setting and ParticipantsLow-income food preparers (n = 50) and their partners (n = 50) in rural Appalachia Pennsylvania.InterventionExperimental food preparers attended 8 weekly interactive lessons; control food preparers received 8 weekly mailings that included similar recipes and handouts.Main Outcome MeasuresTarget vegetable intake and frequency of serving by experimental and control treatment groups and by high and low meal diary scores, a measure of recipe acceptability.AnalysisLinear mixed-model analysis with repeated measures.ResultsNo significant differences resulted between the original experimental and control treatment groups. When grouped by high and low meal diary scores, more experimental families had high scores than in controls. High scores were associated with significant changes in frequency of serving and intake of the target vegetables.Conclusions and ImplicationsMeal diary use may foster food preparer negotiation with partners and children to become involved in vegetable dish evaluation. Tools to help the trained food preparer draw family members into recipe evaluation, such as the meal diary, are useful and needed.     

Southwest Harvest for Health: An Adapted Mentored Vegetable Gardening Intervention for Cancer Survivors

Harvest for Health is a home-based vegetable gardening intervention that pairs cancer survivors with Master Gardeners from the Cooperative Extension System. Initially developed and tested in Alabama, the program was adapted for the different climate, growing conditions, and population in New Mexico. This paper chronicles the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of “Southwest Harvest for Health”. During the nine-month single-arm trial, 30 cancer survivor-Master Gardener dyads worked together to establish and maintain three seasonal gardens. Primary outcomes were accrual, retention, and satisfaction. Secondary outcomes were vegetable and fruit (V and F) intake, physical activity, and quality of life. Recruitment was diverse and robust, with 30 survivors of various cancers, aged 50–83, roughly one-third minority, and two-thirds females enrolled in just 60 days. Despite challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, retention to the nine-month study was 100%, 93% reported “good-to-excellent” satisfaction, and 87% “would do it again.” A median increase of 1.2 servings of V and F/day was documented. The adapted home-based vegetable gardening program was feasible, well-received, and resulted in increased V and F consumption among adult cancer survivors. Future studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of this program and to inform strategies to increase the successful implementation and further dissemination of this intervention.     

Food security in Teréna indigenous families, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

This study aims to describe the food security situation among Teréna families in the villages of Agua Azul, Olho D'Agua, and Oliveiras in Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil. The Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale was adapted to 15 questions that reflect food insecurity at different levels of intensity. A survey was conducted in the villages with 49 families that had under-five children. Information was obtained on income, family size, maternal education, and children's food intake. 75.5% of families showed some level of food insecurity (22.4% low, 32.7% moderate, and 20.4% high). A large percentage (67.3%) of the families live with fear of lack of food. One-fourth of women had experienced hunger during the month prior to the survey, and 14.3% (7) reported the same condition for children in the household. More serious food insecurity was observed in families with lower per capita income and lower maternal education, more family members, and more children per family group in which the children's diet was insufficient, especially in protein and iron.     

Childhood dairy intake and adult cancer risk: 65-y follow-up of the Boyd Orr cohort

BACKGROUND: Dairy consumption affects biological pathways associated with carcinogenesis. Evidence for a link between cancer risk and dairy consumption in adulthood is increasing, but associations with childhood dairy consumption have not been studied adequately. OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether dairy consumption in childhood is associated with cancer incidence and mortality in adulthood. DESIGN: From 1937 through 1939, some 4,999 children living in England and Scotland participated in a study of family food consumption, assessed from 7-d household food inventories. The National Health Service central register was used to ascertain cancer registrations and deaths between 1948 and 2005 in the 4,383 traced cohort members. Per capita household intake estimates for dairy products and calcium were used as proxy for individual intake. RESULTS: During the follow-up period, 770 cancer registrations or cancer deaths occurred. High childhood total dairy intake was associated with a near-tripling in the odds of colorectal cancer [multivariate odds ratio: 2.90 (95% CI: 1.26, 6.65); 2-sided P for trend = 0.005] compared with low intake, independent of meat, fruit, and vegetable intakes and socioeconomic indicators. Milk intake showed a similar association with colorectal cancer risk. High milk intake was weakly inversely associated with prostate cancer risk (P for trend = 0.11). Childhood dairy intake was not associated with breast and stomach cancer risk; a positive association with lung cancer risk was confounded by smoking behavior during adulthood. CONCLUSIONS: A family diet rich in dairy products during childhood is associated with a greater risk of colorectal cancer in adulthood. Confirmation of possible underlying biological mechanisms is needed.     

Evaluation of cadmium intake with food in Polish households in 1993-1997

The studies on cadmium food intake in years 1993-1997 were carried out in six types of households i.e. workers, worker-farmers, farmers, pensioners and retired, self-employed households and families maintaining themselves on non-income sources. Using household budget data and "Tables of trace elements in food products" mean and maximum food intake of cadmium was calculated and compared to provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) taking into consideration main sources of them. The obtained results indicated that the mean cadmium food intake did not exceed PTWI value but maximum intake of one was 38% higher than PTWI. Cadmium intake depended on type of household being highest at farmers, pensioners and retired persons. The main food sources of cadmium were: cereals supplied 43% of one, vegetables and their products supplied 30% cadmium and meat products supplied 15%.     

Television use and family mealtimes among a sample of US families with preschoolers

Research has connected family mealtimes with nutrition, child development, and child academic performance. However, it is not clear how television is associated with the quality of family mealtimes, especially mealtime ritualization (MR), mealtime harmony (MH), and child food intake. Parents of preschoolers (N = 278, average age 40–76 months) completed questionnaire measures of television use, MR, MH, and dietary intake. Controlling familial demographics, television use during meals was a significant predictor of less MR and preschooler fruit and vegetable intake, but not of MH. Additionally, a three-way interaction between mealtime television use, MR, and MH visualized differing patterns of mean preschooler obesogenic food intake among families with low and high TV mealtime use. Discussion focuses on the importance of continuing to investigate the impact of screen media use on family mealtimes and other rituals related to child health.     

"No somos iguales": the effect of household economic standing on women's energy intake in the Andes

This article examines the relationship between women's food consumption and household economic standing in a small farming community in the southern Peruvian Andes. It is motivated by villagers' comments-"no somos iguales"-about economic inequality within the community and explores the nutritional consequences of this disparity. Analyses of energy intake, measured seasonally by the food-weighing technique, show that women in poorer households experience energy deprivation during the pre-harvest season but better-off women do not. During the rest of the year, women in both economic groups have statistically similar intakes of energy. Energy deprivation among poorer women is associated with a lack of money to purchase adequate amounts of commercial foods when the supply of local foods dwindles. The analyses indicate that in this agricultural community, being "cash poor" is a more sensitive predictor of nutritional risk among women than are landholdings. Despite the veneer of widespread poverty, this study supports villager views that households are not equal and contributes to our understanding of differences among rural Andean women.