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Community Gardens as Environmental Health Interventions: Benefits Versus Potential Risks

Purpose of Review The purpose of this paper was to summarize current findings on community gardens relevant to three specific areas of interest as follows: (1) health benefits, (2) garden interventions in developing versus developed countries, and (3) the concerns and risks of community gardening. R...

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Published in:Current environmental health reports 2017-06, Vol.4 (2), p.252-265
Main Authors: Al-Delaimy, W. K., Webb, M.
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Language:English
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Webb, M.
description Purpose of Review The purpose of this paper was to summarize current findings on community gardens relevant to three specific areas of interest as follows: (1) health benefits, (2) garden interventions in developing versus developed countries, and (3) the concerns and risks of community gardening. Recent Findings Community gardens are a reemerging phenomenon in many low- and high-income urban neighborhoods to address the common risk factors of modern lifestyle. Community gardens are not limited to developed countries. They also exist in developing low-income countries but usually serve a different purpose of food security. Despite their benefits, community gardens can become a source of environmental toxicants from the soil of mostly empty lands that might have been contaminated by toxicants in the past. Therefore, caution should be taken about gardening practices and the types of foods to be grown on such soil if there was evidence of contamination. Summary We present community gardens as additional solutions to the epidemic of chronic diseases in low-income urban communities and how it can have a positive physical, mental and social impact among participants. On balance, the benefits of engaging in community gardens are likely to outweigh the potential risk that can be remedied. Quantitative population studies are needed to provide evidence of the benefits and health impacts versus potential harms from community gardens.
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source Springer Nature
subjects Adults
African Americans
Agricultural production
Beautification projects
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Case studies
Chronic illnesses
Contaminants
Developed countries
Developing Countries
Environmental Health
Environmental Health - trends
Exercise
Food
Food contamination
Food security
Food Supply - methods
Fruits
Gardening
Gardening - methods
Gardens
Gardens & gardening
Health
Health care
Health promotion
Heavy metals
Households
Humans
Income
Intervention
Low income areas
Medicine/Public Health
Neighborhoods
Nutritional Status
Outdoor air quality
Overweight
Pharmacology/Toxicology
Population studies
Qualitative research
Residence Characteristics
Risk Factors
Rural areas
Section Editor
Social impact
Soil contamination
Soil Pollutants - adverse effects
Soils
the Environment
the Environment (KE Nachman
Topical Collection on Food
Toxicants
Urban areas
Urban Health
Vegetables
White people
title Community Gardens as Environmental Health Interventions: Benefits Versus Potential Risks
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