Relationship between home garden ownership and the consumption of fruits and vegetables.

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the extent to which access to home gardens associate with the frequency of fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption. SETTING: The study was carried out in fifty rural communities in Northern Ghana where food insecurity and malnutrition including micronutrient deficiencies are prevalent. DESIGN: A community-based comparative analytical cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS: A sample of 847 randomly selected rural households. RESULTS: The proportion of households that consumed FV at least 3 d in a week was 45 %. Members in households who owned a home garden were 1·5 times more likely to consume FV at least 3 d in a week (adjusted OR (AOR) = 1·46 (95 % CI 1·06-2·0)), compared with their counterparts who had no home gardens. Furthermore, households in which mothers had a positive attitude towards FV consumption were 1·6 times more likely to consume FV (AOR = 1·63 (95 % CI 1·17-2·27)) compared with mothers who were less positive. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that food and nutrition policy measures that promote home gardens can improve consumption of diversified diets including FV among vulnerable rural households in Northern Ghana. Additionally, households with lower income may benefit from nutrition behaviour change communication campaigns directed towards increasing a positive attitude to FV intake.

Practising urban agriculture positively influences household organic waste management habits: A quantitative study from Florianópolis, Brazil.

Proper household organic waste management practices are crucial to limit the negative environmental and health impacts that can result from inappropriate municipal waste treatment. The environmental impacts of organic waste have previously been described in the literature, and the main treatment strategy for managing such waste relies on technical facilities such as biodigesters. However, such technologies require significant financial investments, which could hinder their application in areas with lower economic power. Among the several available organic waste treatment strategies, composting for urban agricultural (UA) use has become increasingly popular. Although the literature suggests that UA can contribute to organic waste management by encouraging self-treatment practices, investigations into how practising UA can influence household waste management behaviours have been limited thus far. To this end, we analyse the role of practising UA along with other demographic variables, such as age, gender, education, income and housing conditions, in influencing citizens' household organic waste management behaviours. The city of Florianópolis, Brazil was selected as a case study since that municipality recently passed a new organic waste regulation law that supports the use of organic compost in UA. We surveyed 206 individuals regarding their household organic waste management habits in four behavioural areas: (i) separation, (ii) use of public services, (iii) self-treatment and (iv) reduction. The dataset comprises 102 individuals who were actively engaged in UA activities and 104 who were not involved in UA to compare habits of the two groups. The results show that UA practitioners are more likely to separate and self-treat their organic waste and use the derived compost for gardening activities. The use of public facilities for organic waste management is influenced by people's housing conditions. Respondents who lived in an apartment with no access to a garden logically had a lower willingness than did those with garden access to self-treat the organic waste produced. On the other hand, the results show that UA practitioners compost their own organic waste regardless of their housing conditions. The results show a strong, positive influence of practising UA on self-composting and thereby highlight the role of such practices in sensitizing urban residents to waste management issues and supporting local organic waste management strategies. Although the debate over the role of UA in organic waste management is still open, we reveal that highlighting this role could support a shift towards a circular approach to organic waste treatment.

Climate change in the Catalan Pyrenees intersects with socioeconomic factors to shape crop diversity and management.

Most studies on climate change's impacts on agriculture focus on modeling techniques based on large-scale meteorological data, while few have investigated how farmer's perception of climate change's impacts can affect crop diversity and crop management practices, especially in industrialized contexts. To fill this gap, we conducted 24 semi-structured interviews in a study site located in the Catalan Pyrenees. Our results show for the first time in an industrialized context that farmers perceive multiple interrelated climate change impacts on local agroecosystems. For instance, snowfall and freeze events have decreased, which respondents associated with the increase of pests and diseases affecting both wild flora and cultivated plants. Similarly, changes in precipitation patterns lead to a perceived decrease in useful rain for agriculture. Farmers are also reporting changes in their management practices, such as increased irrigation or use of pesticides, which respond to these climatic factors but also to changes in the crops that are cultivated. Crop diversity is in decline in the area both at the species and landrace levels, especially in rainfed fields. This is mainly driven by socioeconomic factors such as agricultural abandonment or access to commercial seeds, although climate change factors such as increased pests or decreased rainfall can have an impact. Despite the crop diversity losses found, many landraces have been maintained, mainly due to their cultural value, and also new crop species have been introduced, which are now viable due to the increase in temperature. Although we focused on a specific case study, we found several trends that are also present in other contexts. Therefore, the results of this research are relevant at a global scale since they show that climate change is affecting mountain agroecosystems in industrialized contexts and may affect more drastically both agrobiodiversity and crop management practices in agroecosystems worldwide. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13593-022-00806-3.

High Prevalence of Clostridium difficile in Home Gardens in Western Australia.

In recent years, community-associated Clostridium difficile infection (CA-CDI) has emerged as a significant health problem, accounting for ∼50% of all CDI cases. We hypothesized that the home garden environment could contribute to the dissemination of C. difficile spores in the community and investigated 23 homes in 22 suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. We identified a high prevalence of toxigenic C. difficile in this environment. In total, 97 samples consisting of soil (n = 48), compost (n = 15), manure (n = 12), and shoe sole swabs (n = 22) were collected. All samples were cultured anaerobically on C. difficile ChromID agar and enriched in brain heart infusion broth, and isolates were characterized by toxin gene PCR and PCR ribotyping. Two-thirds (67%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 57 to 76%) of home garden samples, including 79% (95% CI, 68 to 91%) of soil, 67% (95% CI, 43 to 90%) of compost, 83% (95% CI, 62% to 100%) of manure, and 32% (95% CI, 12 to 51%) of shoe sole samples, contained C. difficile Of 87 isolates, 38% (95% CI, 28 to 48%) were toxigenic, and 26 PCR ribotypes (RTs), 5 of which were novel, were identified. The toxigenic C. difficile strain RT014/020 was the most prevalent RT. Interestingly, 19 esculin hydrolysis-negative strains giving white colonies were identified on C. difficile ChromID agar, 5 of which were novel toxigenic RTs that produced only toxin A. Clearly, there is the potential for transmission of C. difficile in the community due to the contamination of home gardens. Our findings highlight the importance of a "One Health" approach to dealing with CDI.IMPORTANCE Recently, community-associated Clostridium difficile infection (CA-CDI) has emerged as a significant problem, accounting for ∼50% of all CDI cases and reported to affect a younger population without traditional risk factors. Possible sources of CA-CDI are soil, food, and water contaminated by animal feces, and recent reports show overlapping ribotypes of C. difficile in animals, humans, and the environment; however, the epidemiology of CA-CDI and related risk factors need to be better understood. Our research aimed to determine the prevalence of C. difficile in home gardens and on the shoe soles of homeowners in Perth, Western Australia. There were high rates of contamination with C. difficile in gardens, and some of the ribotypes identified had been isolated from human cases of CDI in Western Australia. This study shows that home gardens and shoes may be a source of C. difficile in CA-CDI.

Home gardens as a predictor of enhanced dietary diversity and food security in rural Myanmar.

BACKGROUND: Home gardens have been found to improve food security and dietary diversity in a wide range of settings. However, there is a need to place home gardens within the larger food and nutrition system landscapes that shape the construction of household diets. Myanmar offers a unique opportunity to study these research questions, given the decades of political isolation, high levels of food insecurity and poor nutrition levels. METHODS: The aim of our paper is to use household survey data from three distinctive agro-ecological settings in rural Myanmar to empirically analyse the role of home gardens in influencing household food insecurity and dietary diversity. Our analysis is based on unique survey data conducted in rural Myanmar. The sample includes 3230 rural households from three States/Districts (Magway, Ayeyarwady and Chin). Using information on two dimensions of food security, a series of variables capturing a household's self-reported food security status and coping strategies when food is not available; and a measure of household's dietary diversity based on 24-h recall data, we empirically estimate a household's probability of being food insecure and the diversity of their diets. RESULTS: There are statistically significant associations between access to home gardens and measures of food security and improved dietary diversity. In particular, for landless households, the ownership of home gardens/ fruits and vines is statistically significant and is associated with a 6.6 percentage points lower probability of a household having to change their diet, and a 7.9 percentage points lower probability of being in hunger. CONCLUSIONS: From a policy perspective, our results show that promoting home gardens among vulnerable households can improve food security and dietary diversity among vulnerable rural households in Myanmar.

Higher agrobiodiversity is associated with improved dietary diversity, but not child anthropometric status, of Mayan Achí people of Guatemala.

OBJECTIVE: Child undernutrition remains one of the greatest challenges for public health nutrition in rural areas in developing countries. Interventions aiming to increase and conserve agrobiodiversity seem to be promising alternatives to improve child nutrition. However, the existing literature on these interventions is not conclusive about their effectiveness in combating child undernutrition. We tested the hypothesis that 'higher agrobiodiversity is associated with greater dietary diversity and better anthropometric status' in rural Guatemala.Design/Setting/SubjectsIn the summer of 2016, we conducted a cross-sectional study with a sample of 154 children (6-60 months). We conducted dietary recalls and structured interviews, measured children's weight and height, and visited food production systems (Milpas, home gardens, coffee plantations). Crop species richness, nutritional functional diversity, dietary diversity scores and anthropometric status were calculated. RESULTS: Higher food self-sufficiency, nutritional functional diversity and dietary diversity scores were positively correlated with higher crop and animal species richness. Contrarily, remoteness to the local market was negatively correlated with dietary diversity scores. However, higher dietary diversity scores were not correlated with better child anthropometric status. Better child anthropometric status was positively correlated with improved sanitary conditions and maternal education; and negatively correlated with large household size and frequent child morbidity. CONCLUSIONS: Agricultural diversification could diversify diets, increase nutrient availability and improve child anthropometry. However, these interventions need to be accompanied by sanitation improvements, family planning, nutritional education and women's empowerment to strengthen their positive effect on diet and nutrition.

Maize Germplasm Conservation in Southern California's Urban Gardens: Introduced Diversity Beyond ex situ and in situ Management.

Contemporary germplasm conservation studies largely focus on ex situ and in situ management of diversity within centers of genetic diversity. Transnational migrants who transport and introduce landraces to new locations may catalyze a third type of conservation that combines both approaches. Resulting populations may support reduced diversity as a result of evolutionary forces such as genetic drift, selection, and gene flow, yet they may also be more diverse as a result of multiple introductions, selective breeding and cross pollination among multiple introduced varietals. In this study, we measured the amount and structure of maize molecular genetic diversity in samples collected from home gardens and community gardens maintained by immigrant farmers in Southern California. We used the same markers to measure the genetic diversity and structure of commercially available maize varieties and compared our data to previously reported genetic diversity statistics of Mesoamerican landraces. Our results reveal that transnational dispersal creates an opportunity for the maintenance of maize genetic diversity beyond its recognized centers of diversity.

The Role of Home Gardens in Promoting Biodiversity and Food Security.

Plant genetic resources provide the basis for sustainable agricultural production, adaptation to climate change, and economic development. Many present crop plants are endangered due to extreme environmental conditions induced by climate change or due to the use of a limited selection of plant materials. Changing environmental conditions are a challenge for plant production and food security, emphasizing the urgent need for access to a wider range of plant genetic resources than what are utilized today, for breeding novel crop varieties capable of resilience and adaptation to climate change and other environmental challenges. Besides large-scale agricultural production, it is important to recognize that home gardens have been an integral component of family farming and local food systems for centuries. It is remarkable how home gardens have allowed the adaptation and domestication of plants to extreme or specific ecological conditions, thus contributing to the diversification of cultivated plants. Home gardens can help in reducing hunger and malnutrition and improve food security. In addition, they provide opportunities to broaden the base of cultivated plant materials by harboring underutilized crop plants and crop wild relative species. Crop wild relatives contain a wide range of genetic diversity not available in cultivated crops. Although the importance of home gardens in conserving plant genetic resources is well recognized, there is a risk that local genetic diversity will be lost if traditional plant materials are replaced by high-yielding modern cultivars. This paper provides an overview of home gardens and their present role and future potential in conserving and utilizing plant genetic resources and enhancing food and nutritional security under global challenges.

Effect of an Integrated School Garden and Home Garden Intervention on Anemia Among School-Aged Children in Nepal: Evidence From a Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Integrated school and home garden interventions can improve health outcomes in low-income countries, but rigorous evidence remains scarce, particularly for school-aged children and to reduce anemia. OBJECTIVE: We test if an integrated school and home garden intervention, implemented at pilot stage, improves hemoglobin levels among school children (aged 9-13 years) in a rural district in the mid-hills of Nepal. METHODS: We use a cluster randomized controlled trial with 15 schools each in the control and treatment groups (n = 680 school children). To test if nutritional improvements translate into a reduction of anemia prevalence, hemoglobin data were collected 6 months after intervention support had ended. Using structural equation modeling, we estimate the direct and indirect effects of the treatment through several pathways, including nutritional knowledge, good food and hygiene practices, and dietary diversity. RESULTS: The integrated school and home garden intervention did not lead to a direct significant reduction in anemia. Causal positive changes of the treatment on nutritional outcomes, although significant, are not strong enough to impact hemoglobin levels. The program improved hemoglobin levels indirectly for children below 12 by increasing the use of good food and hygiene practices at home. These practices are associated with higher hemoglobin levels, particularly for girls, young children, and in households where caregivers are literate. CONCLUSIONS: Even integrated school and home garden interventions are not sufficient to reduce anemia among school children. Incorporating behavioral change components around food and hygiene practices into integrated garden interventions is important to unlocking their health impacts.

Medicinal plants cultivated in urban home gardens in Heredia, Costa Rica.

BACKGROUND: Urban ethnobotanical research in Costa Rica is rather rare and home gardens are poorly studied so far. Investigating their biodiversity is crucial in gathering knowledge on the uses of this particular flora, especially related to the owners' health. This study therefore explores the diversity and knowledge of medicinal plants of private garden owners from three different urban neighborhoods in Heredia, Costa Rica, an thus far understudied area. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews (n = 61) were conducted with garden owners in three socioeconomically different urban neighborhoods (Central Heredia, Maria Auxiliadora and Bernardo Benavides). Information was collected about medicinal plants cultivated in the garden, treatments, plant part used and mode of administration. All species were identified and their geographical origin was determined. This information was then compared with the available regional and local (ethno)pharmacopoeias to detect possible newly documented uses. RESULTS: The majority or 90% of garden owners who also held knowledge on medicinal plants species were women (n = 30) of all ages (between 26 and 85 years old). A list of 27 species of medicinal plants was obtained from the participants of three urban neighborhoods. In Central Heredia, 74% (n = 20) of the total species were present, in Maria Auxiliadora 33% (n = 9) and in Bernardo Benavides 56% (n = 15). Most plant species were used by the participants to treat respiratory problems (11 spp.), hair and skin problems (9 spp.) and digestive disorders (8 spp.). Some plants were used to treat multiple ailments (10 spp.). About a third of all species (n = 8) were used by the participants to treat disorders that were not indicated in the regional and local pharmacopoeias. More specifically, Aloe saponaria, Blechum pyramidatum, Costus scaber, Impatiens walleriana, Lippia alba, Tradescantia zebrina, Psidium friedrichsthalianum and Solenostemon scutellarioides used for medicinal purposes by the participants were not found in the above-mentioned resources. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides new information about the use of medicinal plants in a thus far understudied urban area in Costa Rica. We documented new medicinal uses for several plants listed in the regional and local pharmacopoeias as well as for plants not previously reported in an urban environment. In general, there is little information about the types of plants used for medicinal purposes in urban ecosystems in Costa Rica. Although the country has a high endemic diversity of plants, many exotic medicinal plant species were introduced by the Spaniards during the colonization and by Afro-Costa Rican descendants. The present results thus show how the diversity of the medicinal plants used by these garden owners' confirms a socioeconomic gradient and reflects both Costa Rica's colonial history as well as the current epidemiological profile of the country. These findings underline the need for more ethnobotanical research in urban areas in Costa Rica.

Enough to Feed Ourselves!-Food Plants in Bulgarian Rural Home Gardens.

The home garden is a unique human-nature interspace that accommodates a diverse spectrum of plant species and provides multiple services to households. One of the most important roles of home gardens is to shelter the agricultural plant diversity that provides for diverse and healthy nutrition, especially in rural communities. While tropical home gardens have received wide recognition due to their provisional function for the local communities, temperate and especially European home gardens have been discussed less frequently as a source of subsistence. The main objectives of the current study were to document plant species grown in Bulgarian rural home gardens and to explore related local knowledge and cultural practices that influence food plant diversity, its selection and preservation. Field work was focused on settlements situated in eight provinces in South and North-West Bulgaria. Participants representing 65 home gardens were approached through semi-structured interviews. Home gardens were found to harbor 145 cultivated and semi-cultivated plant taxa, used as food, medicinal and aromatic plants and as animal fodder. Members of the Rosaceae family were most numerous. The largest part of the garden area was occupied by vegetable crops of Solanaceae and Cucurbitaceae. In 63.1% of the studied households, the food growing area comprised more than 2/3 of the total size of the garden. Most preferred crops reflected the social and cultural importance of food self-provisioning, especially in the rural areas. The provisional role of the home gardens in regard to preparation of traditional foods and the driving forces for seed saving are discussed.

Homegarden diversity and food security in southern Mexico.

Home gardens are recognised in the literature for their contribution to food security, yet the process by which agrobiodiversity and household characteristics mediate this relationship is less well understood. This paper contributes to fill this research gap by drawing on a multi-site case study in the Yucatán region in Mexico. By applying regression analysis, the significance of the association between home garden diversity and food security is confirmed. Plant diversity is found to have a positive association with food consumption scores and the frequency of vegetable intakes. The number of animals used for food purposes is also found to have positive and significant associations with food consumption scores and frequency of meat intakes. However, the dimension and the significance of these positive associations were found to vary among communities and quantiles of the distribution of food security measures. In the households studied, younger individuals and better-educated people, males and Spanish speakers were more likely to engage in jobs in urban areas. Engagement in urban jobs was found to involve complementarities with the overall plant diversity of home gardens, but also trade-offs with the diversity of vegetables and other herbs used for food purposes and with the abundance of animals raised for food purposes. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12571-021-01148-w.

The Past in the Present: What our Ancestors Taught us about Surviving Pandemics.

Amidst the recent threat of COVID-19, home gardens have surged in popularity as seed companies and nurseries find it challenging to keep their supplies fully stocked. The victory garden movement that emerged during WWII has today re-emerged as COVID victory gardens. Yet, the global changes and cognitive shifts associated with COVID-19 have differential impacts. The narrative of COVID victory gardens depoliticizes urban agriculture. It is blind to its long history in marginalized, oppressed, and displaced communities where home gardens have always been part of a struggle for identity, autonomy, and self- and communal-determination. I argue the blindness embedded in the narrative of COVID victory gardens violates our "food-related obligations," which are our responsibilities to ourselves, our food, and each other. Silencing how communities of color have historically grown food in pursuit of dignity disregards how home gardens in communities of color are not merely a reactionary response to crisis but part of a historical legacy whereby people of color have grown food for generations to create and recreate sustainable ways of living that validate their cultures, knowledges, and ways of being.

"We used to get food from the garden." Understanding changing practices of local food production and consumption in small island states.

Many Small Island Developing States (SIDS) lead global rates in obesity and non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs). Drivers for this are complex and include lack of food sovereignty, evidenced by an increasing reliance on cheap nutrient-poor food imports and a focus on export orientated cash crop production for much local agriculture. To better inform SIDS' policy goals of improving nutrition through increased local food production, we explored in two SIDS current practices of food production and consumption. Teams of researchers from the two main regional universities conducted 28 focus groups in Fiji in the Pacific and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean with rural and urban communities of different socio-economic or land-owning status. In both countries home gardens were still common, valued as providing staple foods to households and contributing to health and livelihoods. Yet social changes had been experienced over the life course and across generations, such as increased purchase of foods, consumption of processed and often imported foods, and fast foods. While participants associated local foods with better nutrition and health outcomes than imported foods, some local foods were also acknowledged as unhealthy (e.g. locally produced tinned products, pesticide contaminated fresh produce). Finally, as food and related health advice moves globally, crossing national boundaries, and through formal and informal channels, local experiences can be confusing and contested. We suggest the need to understand temporal and spatial aspects of social practices, as social practices and their meaning change over time, travel globally and are experienced locally. To enhance and support re-localising food to counteract unhealthy consumption of ultra-processed, shop-bought, often imported foods, it is vital to understand these lived experiences of changes and resulting uncertainties, and to explicitly build on the longstanding positive relationships that people continue to express about home gardens and local food.

Positive aging benefits of home and community gardening activities: Older adults report enhanced self-esteem, productive endeavours, social engagement and exercise.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined relationships between home and community gardening and older adults' self-reported psychosocial and physical well-being, attitudes to aging relative to gardening activities and benefits of membership to a gardening group. METHODS: A survey addressing (a) demographic characteristics, (b) gardening interests and sentiments, (c) activities, (d) benefits, (e) self-rated health and quality of life and (f) attitudes to aging was administered online and via mail-out. RESULTS: Participants, 331 gardeners aged 60-95 years from Australia, reported numerous benefits from leisure gardening. According to multiple regression analysis, Restoration and Physical benefits were the strongest explanatory variables of participants' positive aging self-perceptions. Members of gardening groups reported significantly more social and physical benefits than non-members. CONCLUSION: The current study provides support for promoting positive aging through gardening. Regardless of 'doing' gardening or simply 'being' in the garden, having contact with nature was key to attaining positive therapeutic benefits for this sample.

The Role of Vegetable Genetic Resources in Nutrition Security and Vegetable Breeding.

Malnutrition, comprising undernutrition, micronutrient deficiency, and overnutrition, is more widespread than hunger per se and affects most nations around the globe. The diversity and the quality of food produced and consumed are decisive factors when addressing the triple burden of malnutrition. In this context, fruit, vegetables, and nuts are increasingly moving into the focus of the nutrition community. Agricultural policies and investments in agriculture are predominantly focused on staple food production, neglecting the economic and nutritional potential of fruit and vegetables. While global vegetables are well represented in genebanks around the globe, this is much less the case for traditional vegetables. Collecting efforts in hotspots of vegetable diversity in Africa and Asia are required to conserve this germplasm before it is being replaced by modern varieties. Home gardens, community seedbanks, and variety introduction through vegetable seed kits are ways how genebanks can link with the farming community to strengthen the informal seed sector. This in turn may result in more diverse production systems and increased consumption of fruit and vegetables. In the formal seed sector, vegetable breeders need access to a wide diversity of genetic resources, predominantly farmers' varieties, landraces, and crop wild relatives. Genomics-assisted breeding is increasingly facilitating the introgression of favorable genes and quantitative trait loci (QTLs) with complex inheritance patterns from wild species into cultigens. This will lead to wider use of crop wild relatives in the development of resilient cultivars.

Home gardening and urban agriculture for advancing food and nutritional security in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite a 2.3% increase in world cereal production in 2019 over 2018, the number of people facing severe food insecurity may double from 135 million in January 2020 to 265 million by the end of 2020. The problem of food and nutritional insecurity is severe in urban centers, where the global population is projected to increase (%/year) by 1.84, 1.63, and 1.44 between 2015 to 2020, 2020 to 2025, and 2025 to 2030, and it will increase overall from 54% in 2016 to 60% by 2030. The number of megacities (>10 million people) will increase from 34 in 2015 to 41 by 2030. The COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated food insecurity in urban centers because of the disruption in the food supply chain, aggravation of the physical and economic barriers that restrict access to food, and the catastrophic increase in food waste because of labor shortages. Thus, there is a need to adopt more resilient food systems, reduce food waste, and strengthen local food production. Enhancing availability at the household and community levels through home gardening and urban agriculture is an important strategy. Food production within the cities include small land farming in households, local community gardens, indoor and rooftop gardens, vertical farming, etc. Home gardening can play an important role in advancing food and nutritional security during and after the COVD-19 pandemic, while also strengthening the provisioning of numerous ecosystem services (i.e., plant biodiversity, microclimate, water runoff, water quality, human health). However, risks of soil contamination by heavy metals must be addressed.

A Multi-Sectoral Approach Improves Early Child Development in a Disadvantaged Community in Peru: Role of Community Gardens, Nutrition Workshops and Enhanced Caregiver-Child Interaction: Project "Wawa Illari".

Background: Multi-dimensional monitoring evaluation and learning strategies are needed to address the complex set of factors that affect early child development in marginalized populations, but few studies have explored their effectiveness. Objective: To compare improvement of health and development of children 0-3 years between intervention communities (IC) and control communities (CC) from peripheral settlements of Lima. Sequential interventions included: (1) home and community gardens, (2) conscious nutrition, and (3) parenting workshops following the International Child Development Program (ICDP). Methods: Interventions were delivered by community health promoters (CHPs) using a "step-by-step" learning system. Both IC and CC were monitored before the interventions began, at 8 and 12 months (n = 113 IC and 127 CC children). Data were collected on household characteristics, diet, food security, health indicators (history of diarrhea and respiratory infections, hemoglobin, intestinal parasites, anthropometry), caregiver-child interactions and stress, and achievement of Pan-American Health Organization age-specific developmental milestones. Stepwise multiple logistic regressions were used to determine if the interventions affected food insecurity, as well as motor, social/cognitive and language delays. Results: At baseline, 2.6% were categorized as "suspected developmental delay" and 14.2% were on "alert for development delay." Food insecurity, diarrhea and respiratory infections were lowered following the interventions. Through the "step-by-step" approach, caregivers in IC gained skills in gardening, conscious nutrition and parenting that reduced the risk of food insecurity [Adjusted Risk Ratio = 0.20 (95% CI: 0.08-0.51)] and language delay [0.39 (0.19-0.82)] but not motor or social/cognitive delay. Use of a multiple micronutrient supplement decreased the risk of motor delay [0.12 (0.03-0.56)], but more pets were associated with higher risk of motor [3.24 (1.47-7.14)] and social/cognitive delay [2.72 (1.33-5.55)], and of food insecurity [1.73 (1.13-2.66)]. Conclusion: The combined interventions delivered by CHPs helped to mitigate the impact of adversity on food insecurity and language delay. Additional improvements may have been detected if the interventions had continued for a longer time. Our results indicate that control of infections and pets may be needed to achieve measurable results for motor and social/cognitive development. Continuous monitoring facilitated adjusting implementation strategies and achieving positive developmental outcomes.

A comprehensive dataset on cultivated and spontaneously growing vascular plants in urban gardens.

This article summarizes the data of a survey of vascular plants in 85 urban gardens of the city of Zurich, Switzerland. Data was acquired by two sampling methods: (i) a floristic inventory of entire garden lots based on repeated garden visits, including all vegetation periods; and (ii) vegetation relevés on two plots of standardized size (10 m2) per garden during the summer. We identified a total of 1081 taxa and report the origin status, i.e., whether a taxon is considered native or alien to Switzerland. Furthermore, the origin of a plant or garden population was estimated for each taxon and garden: each taxon in each garden was classified as being either cultivated or spontaneously growing. For each garden, the number of all native, cultivated, and spontaneously growing plant species is given, along with additional information, including garden area, garden type and the landscape-scale proportion of impermeable surface within a 500-m radius. The dataset is related to the research note entitled "Research Note: Self-reported habitat heterogeneity predicts plant species richness in urban gardens" [1]. It is also linked to a comprehensive dataset on biotic and abiotic soil data and as well as to a dataset on soil-surface dwelling and flying arthropods [2-6].

Assessing health impacts of home food gardens with Wind River Indian Reservation families: protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: This community-based participatory research, Growing Resilience, will be the first full-scale randomised controlled trial we have identified that is designed to evaluate impacts of home gardening on family health. It is based on observational studies suggesting home food gardening has myriad health benefits, Wind River Indian Reservation (WRIR) families' interest in home gardening and the need to end Native American health disparities with empowering, appropriate and effective health interventions. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A total of 100 Native American families in WRIR who have not gardened recently but want to garden will be randomly allocated (1:1) to intervention (receiving 2 years of support designing, installing and maintaining a home food garden of at least 80 square feet (approximately 7 square meters) or to delayed-intervention control (receiving same gardening support after 2 years of data collection). Willing family members aged 5 and up will participate in data collection each February and August for 2 years, with blood, biometric and survey measures at each. The primary outcome is adult body mass index (BMI). Secondary outcomes include child BMI, and adult hand strength, self-reported physical and mental health, diabetes control and food security. Primary analysis will be intention to treat (ITT), using univariate and bivariate descriptive statistics followed by a mixed model to estimate the ITT effect of the intervention using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) estimation. We will also examine treatment affects using a gardening fidelity measure, combined adult and child BMI outcomes using a lambda mu and sigma (LMS) Z-score reference data set and possible mechanisms of health impacts. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This protocol was approved by the University of Wyoming Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the project's Community Advisory Board. De-identified data will be shared with each tribe, and results will be published in peer-reviewed journals, summarised for distribution in WRIR, and shared at a national event to be hosted in WRIR in 2020. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02672748; Pre-results.