Yet another study has found a link between exposure to gardens and a lower risk of being diagnosed with obesity-related cancers.

Obesity has been linked to several common cancers including breast, colorectal, esophageal, kidney, gallbladder, uterine, pancreatic, and liver cancer.

How can gardening be protective against these killers? Overall, it’s proven to be great for your mental health, increasing longevity, and reducing stress.

A number of observational studies have found that gardening improves diet quality and certain measures of fitness.

Harder evidence arrived in 2023, from the University of Colorado.  Researchers there conducted a gold standard randomized, controlled trial of community gardening and its impact on health.

They found that those who started gardening ate more fibre and got more physical activity. These are two known ways to reduce the risk of cancer and chronic diseases.

Senior author was Jill Litt, a professor in Colorado’s Department of Environmental Studies. She said at the time:

“These findings … provide concrete evidence that community gardening could play an important role in preventing cancer.”

The findings also showed gardening protected against chronic diseases and mental health disorders.

Notably, participants’ levels of stress and anxiety significantly decreased.

Doctors in the UK have started prescribing gardening as an alternative to drugs for depression.

Green spaces close to home

The University of Queensland’s School of Public Health, in a new study, focused on green spaces around the homes of study participants.

Almost 280,000 of these were recruited from the UK Biobank between 2006 and 2010. They aged from 37 to 73.

Lead author Chinonso Odebeatu, a PhD candidate, said:

“We were interested in how green space might influence specific health outcomes, so the data was linked to the UK’s National Cancer Registry.

“We found almost 10,000 of the 279,000 participants developed obesity-related cancer over a follow-up period of eight years.”

When Odebeatu and company looked at the amount and types of green space around the participants, they found “exposure to a private residential garden was linked to a lower risk of developing cancers, especially breast and uterine cancer”.

The findings suggest green space around a home gives people the opportunity to engage in more physical exercise, make more Vitamin D and can mitigate the effects of air pollution.

Who benefits most

Odebeatu said certain groups of people showed more pronounced health benefits from having access to a household garden.

“For instance, women, people who had never smoked and people who didn’t drink alcohol,” he said.

“It was also more beneficial for people who were more physically active, people without cardiovascular issues and those without vitamin D deficiencies.”

Associate Professor Nicholas Osborne from UQ’s School of Public Health said the findings support policies and initiatives aimed at increasing people’s access to green space.

“We know living in areas with more green space can have positive effects on both physical and mental health and wellbeing,” he said.

“This study provides a better understanding of this relationship.”

Not everyone has access to their own garden at home, so promoting community gardening may be helpful.

“Encouraging outdoor activities and ensuring adequate vitamin D levels could further amplify these benefits,” he said.

Also published this week, research from the University of Alabama that finds vegetable gardening could help improve the health of older cancer survivors.

This study was a randomised clinical trial.

Cancer survivors over the age of 50, who cared for a vegetable garden, had “significantly increased vegetable and fruit consumption”.

They experienced significant improvements in health and physical activity compared with survivors not participating in vegetable gardening.