Gardening Helps Cancer Patients Improve Lifestyle and Diet


Gardening helps cancer patients improve physical activity, diet and self-worth feeling, according to the new research. Because of these potentially healthy behaviors, gardeners also tended to get less weight over their waists than their counterparts waiting for the gardening intervention.

However, cancer is known as one of the most critical diseases with a fewer chances of curable treatment. Researchers have estimated that nearly 15 million people from the United States are suffering through different types of cancer.

Gardening with homegrown vegetables for three seasons helps improve the entire physical activity. Besides this, fresh fruits and vegetables can also be obtained as a part of food consumption on daily basis. Additionally, gardening helps increase feelings of self-esteem.

During the study, researchers came to know that the living behavior and healthy eating gained from patients’ gardening section helped them acquire less weight than the people who don’t do the same. Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, a leading study author and chair of the Department of Nutrition Sciences at University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Comprehensive Cancer Center explained the research.

Dr. Demark-Wahnefried stated that, “For cancer survivors, especially those who are older, we look for lifestyle changes that can help them get healthier but are also holistic and have meaning. We can send people to the gym, but that isn’t meaningful, and we can counsel them to eat better, but we want it to be more rewarding, and we want it to be long-term. With gardening, we’ve hit the ball out of the ballpark.”