Urban gardening and its associations with diet and health in Palau facing an obesity crisis
- Akiko Iida
- Chihiro Tsuchiya-Theorin
- Yin Yin Nwe
- Takahiro Yamazaki
- Ngirbechat Arsenio
- Christopher Kitalong
- Makoto Yokohari
- Takuro Furusawa
2026-09-01
Despite growing evidence of urban gardening’s health benefits, studies in the Pacific Islands facing an obesity crisis remain extremely limited. In Palau, compared with non-gardeners, urban gardeners had a 0.86-point higher dietary diversity score ( p < 0.001 ), 2.92 kg/m 2 lower BMI ( p = 0.011 ), and 3.49-fold higher odds of reporting good health ( p < 0.001 ). These findings suggest the importance of integrating urban gardening into public health and spatial strategies.