Older adults growing vegetables as part of UMaine research project, BDN reports
The Bangor Daily News reported on a University of Maine research project that aims to demonstrate the feasibility and healthy benefits of enabling older adults to raise and eat their own fresh vegetables. According to the article, about a dozen residents at two Brewer Housing Authority sites have signed up for the project that is led by Kelley Strout, assistant professor of nursing at UMaine. Strout says seniors typically consume fewer servings of fresh vegetables per week than recommended, in part because fresh produce is expensive and doesn’t keep well. “If you give older adults in subsidized housing the opportunity, will they grow a garden and eat more vegetables?” she asked. “Will they eat a healthier diet and benefit from the physical and social activity?” In collaboration with the UMaine School of Nursing, Food Science and Human Nutrition Program and Cooperative Extension Strout has designed a research project aimed at answering her questions, the article states. Strout says she hopes to use the data gathered from the pilot program and to design and fund a larger-scale project at senior housing facilities across the state.