Research from the University of Florida in Gainesville shows that the more gardening experience a first year college student had, the more fruits and vegetables they consumed.

The study, led by Dr. Anne Mathews, a professor at the University who specializes in healthy lifestyle behaviors, surveyed 1,100 college freshmen from 8 different colleges around the nation. To collect the data, the researchers had students fill out a questionnaire asking them about their previous gardening experiences and daily diets.

The results showed that on average, the students that had previous gardening experience before attending college ate 20 percent more fruits and vegetables than those who had never gardened before college. Furthermore, the study found that nearly 50 percent of all students surveyed had never gardened before at all and approximately 19 percent had gardened recently.

This information suggests how gardening might become a more widespread practice in the future as a means to combat obesity rates. Colleges across the nation, such as the University of California Santa Cruz, have already begun to provide their students with access to gardens in order to promote healthier lifestyles. Some elementary and middle schools have also begun to incorporate gardening into their curriculums; to read about one elementary school that received a $1,000 grant for gardening, click HERE.