Kids who garden grow up to eat more vegies

A project aimed at encouraging a healthier diet among US college students has found that childhood gardening may lead to a lasting habit of eating more fruits and vegetables.

Get Fruved (Get Your Fruits and Vegetables) is a $4.9 million collaborative project among eight American universities. At the University of Florida, one of the project participants, the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is researching what factors predict and influence the health behaviours of college and high school students.

In the study, investigators interviewed 1351 college students and divided them into four groups:

• Students who gardened while growing up
• Students who garden now
• Students who gardened while growing up and now
• Students who have never gardened

Of the students surveyed, 30% gardened as a child and 38% currently garden. Students who gardened as a child or report current gardening ate 2.9 cups of fruits and vegetables daily, while those who said they never gardened ate 2.4 cups of fruits and vegetables/day.

“We found that if your parents gardened but you did not, just watching them did not make a difference in how much fruits and vegetables you eat in college. Hands-on experience seems to matter,” said Anne Mathews, a UF/IFAS assistant professor of food science and human nutrition and lead author of the study.

Mathews said the finding is particularly relevant given the recent popularity of school gardens and farm-to-school projects, because little to nothing is known about how participating in gardening projects influences nutrition habits after participation in the project ends.

Get Fruved uses peer interaction, social media and campus events to try to get high school and college students to eat more fruits and vegetables, exercise more and manage stress more effectively. They also may expand gardens, work to improve access to healthy foods at campus eateries, hold dance events and challenge each other to exercise more.

The study results are published in an abstract in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.