Growing a Green Thumb Could Help Prevent Cancer
Helping children develop a green thumb isn’t just about cultivating plants. A new rapid review from a University of Alberta public health team suggests that gardening initiatives for children and youth can support lifelong health, including lowering cancer risk. The research highlights how gardening can address several modifiable risk factors for cancer and chronic disease, such as healthy eating, physical activity, and reducing sedentary time.
The Evidence: What the Review Found
The team analyzed 48 studies in high-income countries and found consistent benefits from gardening programs. Participants showed improvements in nutrition-related knowledge and eating behaviors, increased levels of physical activity, and decreased sedentary behavior. Beyond physical health, gardening also bolstered psychosocial factors—people reported greater social connection and a stronger sense of belonging. While the evidence on body weight was mixed, the broader health implications are meaningful for cancer prevention and overall well-being.
From Community to Classroom: Why Gardens Matter
Lead researcher Christina Gillies, adjunct professor in the School of Public Health and a scientist with the CPSI, notes that the motivation for the project grew from real-world partnerships. A collaboration with an Alberta First Nation community on a school-based garden project emphasized intergenerational learning, land-based knowledge, and cultural revitalization—all aligned with healthier behaviors for students, teachers, and the wider community.
Gillies and her team also observed a strong appetite for community gardening across Alberta. Edmonton alone hosts more than 80 community gardens, including the University of Alberta’s Green and Gold Community Garden, which nurtures a diverse array of vegetables, herbs, and flowers with volunteers’ help. Gardens in schools and neighborhoods can thus become accessible, ongoing opportunities for children and families to engage in healthy lifestyles.
Challenges and Keys to Success
Despite the promise, turning gardening ideas into sustained public health interventions is not easy. Barriers such as limited human, land, and financial resources can stall initiatives. Gillies emphasizes the importance of champions—individuals or groups who can initiate and carry projects forward. Without sustained leadership, a one-off project may fail to translate into long-term health benefits.
A secondary equity-focused analysis being prepared for publication reinforces the need to design gardening programs with equity in mind. The findings suggest that successful initiatives actively involve parents, peers, and community partners and pay attention to gender, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and cultural context. To equitably improve living conditions and health outcomes, programs must be shaped with the communities most affected by health inequities at every stage.
What This Means for Families and Schools
Gillies plans further long-term studies to identify how gardening initiatives can sustain healthy behaviors into adulthood, with the goal of improving cancer outcomes and overall health. In her personal life, she’s already witnessing the benefits. She volunteers at the Laurier Heights Food Forest with her three-year-old daughter and husband, tending a community orchard filled with raspberries, apples, haskaps, saskatoons, and flowers.
“While I’m weeding, my daughter is harvesting berries and trying new things. She doesn’t stop moving the whole time, and neither do I. We’re getting that physical activity as well as really enhanced community connection by meeting our neighbours,” she says. The experience also offers a gateway to trying different, healthy foods in a natural setting.
Practical steps for communities
- Identify local champions who can lead garden projects across schools and neighborhoods.
- Provide accessible space and resources for school and community gardens, with ongoing maintenance plans.
- Engage families and diverse community groups to ensure equitable access and culturally relevant activities.
- Incorporate nutrition and physical activity education into garden programming.
Gillies encourages participation: “It’s a wonderful place to meet other people in your community while also experiencing connection to the land, moving your body, and trying different foods. There are really so many benefits.”
