Gardening Interventions to Improve Nutritional Adequacy for Low Income Youth in East Palo Alto

Keshav Rao

Table of Contents• Problem• Community Gardening

▫ National Movement▫ Bay Area Examples

• Key Empirical Takeaways• Recommendations for EHF Project

▫ Overview▫ Study Design/Evaluation/Partners ▫ Funding Sources

Problem

• 1/3 of American youth and adolescents are either overweight or obese

• Less than 50% of youth between 4-18 consume 5 servings of fruits & veggies

• Low income, minorities most marginalized with poor access to healthy food and bad eating habits

2007 Childhood Obesity Rates (ncls.org)

Community Gardening• Provides youth with

hands-on experience planting, harvesting, and learning about fruits and vegetables

• Increase in exposure to healthy food choices leads to healthier consumption decisions

• Relatively low-cost, high impact intervention that has spread across the nation

National Movement• Since 1982, the National Gardening

Association has given nearly $4 million through 9586 grants, reaching 1.44 million gardeners

• Annually, the Home Depot Garden Club gives away $1000 gift cards (5) and $500 gift cards (95) to help build school and/or community gardens

• Jamba Juice is giving $500 grants (20) to community gardens that focus on increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables among youth

Bay Area Case Studies• Urban Sprouts has been building

gardens in low-income San Francisco school communities since 2003, reaching over 3700 kids

• The East Bay Asian Youth Center plans to create at least 10 garden-based nutrition education lessons in a total of 40 class sessions at Bella Vista, Franklin and Garfield elementary schools in Oakland

• Alice Water’s Chez Panisse Foundation built a one acre organic garden and kitchen classroom at the MLK Jr. Middle School in Berkeley. The program has impacted over 3000 students and countless educators

Key Empirical Takeaways

• Consumption▫ Most 5-15 year olds demonstrated significantly higher

fruit and vegetable consumption patterns after gardening

▫ One study reported significantly higher Vitamin A, C, and Fiber for gardening vs. control group

• Perception ▫ Gardening participants were more willing to taste

different types of vegetables and in some cases, reported higher preference levels post-test

• Knowledge▫ Varying degrees of increase in nutritional knowledge

(from identification of food type to understanding benefits)

• Impact on Home Environment▫ Children asking parents for more fruits and vegetables

after gardening, leading to an increase in the availability of healthy food

Literature: 12 Peer-reviewed journal articles from 2001-2011

Interesting/Unanswered Questions• What is the ideal duration/composition of program?

▫ What is the marginal utility of additional weeks?▫ What is the optimal structure in terms of gardening

activities/duration?• Impact of dual child-parent gardening + nutrition

education on FV consumption and availability in home environment?

• After-school program vs. weekend intervention? • Full nutrition adequacy tests (blood tests, etc) for long-

term gardening-nutrition education intervention • Are effects of nutrition program dependent on socio-

economic status or race?

EHP Project - Overview• Objective

▫ Design an effective gardening + nutrition education intervention for low-income East Palo Alto youth (5-15 years old)

• Variables of Interest▫ Fruit and Vegetable consumption (weekly/monthly) ▫ Nutrition Measurements (Vitamin A, C, E, Iron,

Calcium, Fiber, etc) ▫ BMI▫ Change in preferences of vegetables and fruits ▫ Age-appropriate knowledge of nutritional

requirements▫ Change in healthy food availability at home/

parent’s purchasing patterns▫ Child and parent demographics

EHF Project – Study Design • Weekend gardening classes and nutrition classes held at

EHF ▫ Free lunch for participants

• One group of EPA lower and middle school students with parents vs. control groups without parents

• Pre-post survey to gauge fruit and vegetable intake, change in food preferences, knowledge gained after intervention, and change in food purchasing habits by parents ▫ Dietary recall book and surveys previously used by other

studies▫ Baseline at start of program, Post-experiment survey at 12

weeks, and Long term follow-up at 6 months• Potential partners

▫ Urban Sprouts/Edible Schoolyard (curriculum)▫ Boys & Girls club/ EPA public schools (participants), ▫ Stanford (volunteers/nutritionist)▫ Master Gardeners of Santa Clara (gardeners)

Funding Sources

• National Gardening Association▫ Home Depot Garden Club ($500-$1000)▫ Jamba Juice ($500)

• Bay Area Nutrition and Physical Activity Collaborative ($500 - $5000)

• DoSomething.org ($500)• Sparkseed Ventures• Stanford Social-E Challenge