Gardening May Help Reduce Cancer Risk and Boost Mental Health – Neuroscience News
Summary: A new study reveals community gardening helps lower stress and anxiety, and reduces cancer risks. Researchers found those who gardened had elevated fiber intake and increased physical activity.
Source: University of Colorado
Get more exercise. Eat right. Make new friends.
As we compile our lists of resolutions aimed at improving physical and mental health in 2023, new CU Boulder research suggests one addition could have a powerful impact: Gardening.
Funded by the American Cancer Society, the first-ever, randomized, controlled trial of community gardening found that those who started gardening ate more fiber and got more physical activity—two known ways to reduce risk of cancer and chronic diseases. They also saw their levels of stress and anxiety significantly decrease.
The findings were published Jan. 4 in the journal Lancet Planetary Health.
“These findings provide concrete evidence that community gardening could play an important role in preventing cancer, chronic diseases and mental health disorders,” said senior author Jill Litt, a professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at CU Boulder.
Filling the research gap
Litt has spent much of her career seeking to identify affordable, scalable and sustainable ways to reduce disease risk, especially among low-income communities.
Gardening seemed an ideal place to start.
“No matter where you go, people say there’s just something about gardening that makes them feel better,” said Litt, who is also a researcher with the Barcelona Institute for Global Health.
But solid science on its benefits is hard to come by. Without evidence, it’s hard to get support for new programs, she said.
Some small observational studies have found that people who garden tend to eat more fruits and vegetables and have a healthier weight. But it has been unclear whether healthier people just tend to garden, or gardening influences health.
Only three studies have applied the gold standard of scientific research, the randomized controlled trial, to the pastime. None have looked specifically at community gardening.
To fill the gap, Litt recruited 291 non-gardening adults, average age of 41, from the Denver area. More than a third were Hispanic and more than half came from low-income households.
After the last spring frost, half were assigned to the community gardening group and half to a control group that was asked to wait one year to start gardening.
The gardening group received a free community garden plot, some seeds and seedlings, and an introductory gardening course through the nonprofit Denver Urban Gardens program and a study partner.
Both groups took periodic surveys …….