Community Gardening May Reap Body Weight Benefit

People with plots in community gardens are less likely to be overweight or obese than those who don't garden, a new study suggests. "It has been shown previously that community gardens can provide a variety of social and nutritional benefits to neighborhoods," study author Cathleen Zick, a professor of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah, said in a university news release. "But until now, we did not have data to show a measurable health benefit for those who use the gardens." She and her colleagues looked at the body-mass index (BMI) of 198 community gardeners in Salt Lake City and compared them to non-gardening neighbors. BMI is a measurement of body fat based on height and weight. The BMI of female community gardeners was an average 1.84 points lower than their neighbors, a difference of 11 pounds for a 5-foot-5 woman. The BMI of male community gardeners was 2.36 points lower than their neighbors, a difference of 16 pounds for a man at 5 feet 10 inches. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_136087.html