Home Gardening and Health

By Dr. Lal Jayasinghe-May 29, 2020, 10:35 pm
Public Health Writers Collective"
phwriters2020@gmail.com

Home Gardening (HG) is usually associated with family economics, or food security. However, there is a very significant part that home gardening can contribute towards good health. HG is also not necessarily thought of as contributing much towards "food", which is thought of as being more to do with rice, other cereals, pulses, bread, etc. Therefore, HG is thought of as being able to supply "only" fruit and vegetables (F&V).

So, how does HG contribute to health. Let us take fruit and vegetables. There is no dispute that fruit and vegetables are a very important part of the diet. A diet lacking fruit and vegetables will soon lead to ill health. Fruit and vegetables are sources of micronutrients which are very necessary for maintaining good health. Micronutrients are what people usually know as vitamins and minerals. HG can also contribute to energy foods. For example, yams, like manioc and sweet potatoes, or even bananas, are staple foods, in some countries.

The question then arises as to why fruits and vegetables should be from the home garden, rather than from the market. There are two main reasons. First is to do with quality and quantity, and the second is to do with extra benefits from HG, in addition to the value of the food, which I will come to later. There is no argument that the quality of F&V, grown at home, is far superior, when compared to what has been bought from the market. For a start, they are fresher, "straight from the tree," as they say. Consequently, the nutritive value is greater. So is the taste, which is important, if sufficient quantity is to be consumed.

The amount of F&V consumed is an important aspect, that needs to be considered, where health is concerned. It is recommended that 400 g of F&V should be consumed, by an adult, on a daily basis, for good health. When one considers an average family of five, that is a significant weight of 2kg per day. Unless people shopped, on a daily basis, it is impractical to store that amount of F&V in an average home. Nor is it economically feasible for an average family.

Maybe 400 gms./day is difficult to achieve easily for a lot of people, but there is no doubt, from observation, that the average Sri Lankan family do not consume adequate F&V, on a regular basis. Coming back to the question of quality; in addition to freshness, produce from one’s own garden is organic and free from pesticides. The latter being a major contributor to ill health.

Even if 400 gm/day is not possible, for economic and practical reasons, a family, with a home garden, will undoubtably consume more F&V than a family without, even if they had similar incomes. Therefore, HG is a health issue, in addition to an economic one. In other words, HG is for the rich, as well, as they too need good nutrition to be healthy

A criticism can be made that what has been said so far are the benefits of F&V and not home gardening. It is true to a point, but at the very beginning, I made the point that there are quality and quantity issues, between the F&V bought from the shop, and grown at home. However, now I will mention some other benefits that arises from home gardening, in addition to the benefits of F&V.

Exercise and fresh air

Exercise is the obvious benefit. For good health, exercise need not be vigorous, or the type practiced in gymnasia. It only needs to be gentle, but regular, and lasting for at least half an hour. Home gardening can provide all these aspects of exercise. Fresh air and outdoor activity are beneficial for everyone for

relaxation and to relieve stress. It is particularly useful for the office worker who has been cooped up in an office all day.

The retired and elderly

It is particularly essential for the retired, and for the elderly, who need not join a gym if they had a garden to maintain. There can be no doubt that the mental health of the elderly (and of others, as well) be improved by HG. It would provide a sense of purpose. The increased activity will help with appetite. They will sleep better, following time spent in outdoor activity. One other indirect benefit of home gardening is a relief from the sense of anomie people suffer from, because the loss of variety in vegetables. This sense of anomie is particularly prevalent in the elderly. I refer to the loss of our traditional fruits and vegetables. Take tomato, for example, if a child is asked to draw a tomato today, it will most certainly draw a small slightly elongated ball. This was NOT the shape of tomatoes that most adults knew. There are numerous other examples one can cite. Being able to grow traditional varieties will add to the well-being of the elderly and others, as well. A particular ailment that one hears from the elderly, particularly female, is that they either suffer from osteoporosis or, even if they have no symptoms, that they are labelled as having osteoporosis. What both groups need is regular gentle exercise and sunshine, not tablets.

Children

Unlike in the past, children spend less and less time outdoors. This may be due lack of space to play, safety, burden of school work, "tuition classes", television, computer games, etc. If children can be motivated to join the adults, in the garden, they will enjoy the benefits of the open air. I have observed that young children pass through a period of interest in small creatures and nature up to the age of about six years. One must not forget the opportunity to acquire some Vitamin D, by exposure to sunshine. The best, or natural source, of this vitamin, is sunshine, as it is not efficiently absorbed from food and people, particularly the dark skinned, may lack Vitamin D, in spite of a diet rich in Vitamin D. Therefore, there is no excuse for any one in Sri Lanka to be deficient in Vitamin D. (which is equally important for adults, as well, because deficiency will lower immunity and cause frequent infections)

This seems a pertinent time to mention another vitamin, mentioned, as being deficient in children, Vitamin A. Once again there is no need to take Vitamin A supplements if adequate quantities of green vegetables are consumed regularly. For the sake of completion, I will mention three other micronutrients that is freely available from F&V namely; Iron, folic acid and Vitamin C.

As some people interpret health as being the absence of illness, I will mention some diseases that can be either eliminated or helped by home gardening. Let us take, what are termed non communicable diseases or NCDs, namely; heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory disease. What are the non-pharmaceutical measures that are recommended to prevent, or help cure, these diseases? Increase use of fruit and vegetables, regular exercise, and maintaining a healthy weight, all helped by HG.

Diabetes

Most often it is the Type II, or non-insulin dependent diabetes, that we are talking about here. It is surprisingly common in Sri Lanka. Although it is thought to be associated with obesity, quite a large proportion of patients are of average weight. It is also supposed to run in families, but, increasingly, it is seen, for the first time, in middle-aged individuals, without a family history. So, there is a lot about Type II diabetes, in Sri Lanka, to be explained.

In general, it is fair to say that patients are managed well by family doctors, with oral glucose lowering tablets. There are diabetes clinics, as well in hospitals.

Either way, are attempts being made to "cure" these patients? Can Type II diabetes be "cured"? In a large number of patients, the disease can be suppressed with diet and exercise if patients have enough motivation and can find a doctor with interest in the disease, time and patience. Basically, a diet, low in sugar and starchy foods, is what is required. In order to find such a diet, the patient could do very well with a home garden. Fruits and vegetables have another key ingredient that will help diabetics. namely, fiber or roughage. They add bulk to food so reducing the need for starchy food or cereals to provide satiety or feeling of fulness, after a meal.

High Blood Pressure

Next, let us take hypertension, or high blood pressure. What most people suffer from is called essential hypertension. In other words, we don’t know the cause of the disease.

Like diabetes, no attempt is made to "cure" high blood pressure, but people are given tablets to control the blood pressure. Can high blood pressure be cured? Quite possibly. How? Once again with diet, exercise, healthy weight and a low salt diet. Here, too, a home garden will greatly help towards a low salt diet. How? If people had a home garden, they would discover the real taste of vegetables and would not depend on processed food, or high salt additives, to enhance taste. It is the sodium, in salt, that is harmful. Fruits and vegetables are rich in potassium which has the opposite effect to sodium, and a diet rich in potassium would help bring down blood pressure. Exercise is important in controlling blood pressure. Home gardening will provide the opportunity for exercise which, in addition to reducing blood pressure directly, will also help in maintaining a healthy weight because obesity is one of the causes of essential hypertension.

Cancer

Could a home garden be of benefit in; if not curing, at least preventing cancer? It certainly can, because the produce from home gardens, being organically grown, would be free from cancer-causing chemicals. The other benefits, that fruits and vegetables bring, are the presence of antioxidants in them which help prevent cancer. Lack of fiber, in the diet, is linked to incidence of some cancers, as well, particularly bowel cancers. As mentioned above, F&V provide plenty of fiber.

Heart Disease

As with cancer, the aim should be to prevent the development of heart disease, rather than try to treat it, once acquired. By heart disease, here I particularly mean coronary heart disease which is the most common form. How do we prevent coronary heart disease? Once again, by diet and exercise and avoiding risk factors, like smoking and alcohol. A diet low in saturated and trans fats is recommended. As animal fats are saturated, a plant-based diet is beneficial and HG will help achieve it.

"Stress"

I have written stress within quotes because people have varying concepts of what is meant by stress. However, there is no doubt that chronic anxiety is; if not causal, is at least detrimental to the management of hypertension, heart disease and even diabetes and cancer. HG will definitely help in alleviating chronic anxiety.

Conclusion

Fruit and vegetable consumption are vital for maintaining good health. Although F&V can be bought in the shops, growing them at home has the advantage of; ample supplies, ready availability, freshness and safety, being free of pesticides and harmful chemicals. Home gardening also has other benefits as well, including opportunity for exercise, fresh air and sunshine. Time spent in home gardens is good for one's mental health, too.