#WorldDiabetesDay

Today marks #WorldDiabetesDay (Saturday 14th November) therefore I wanted to write a blog on this and how it relates to us here in Fintry Community Garden.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) provide a wealth of information on both type 1 and type 2 diabetes and estimate 6% of the world's population has diabetes. That's around 469 million people. Diabetes is a condition which causes blindness, heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure and limb amputation. Some other key points about diabetes are as follows:

*Diabetes prevalence has been rising more rapidly in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries. *In 2016, an estimated 1.6 million deaths were directly caused by diabetes. Another 2.2 million deaths were attributable to high blood glucose in 2012.

*Almost half of all deaths attributable to high blood glucose occur before the age of 70 years. *WHO estimates that diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in 2016.

Source: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diabetes

So what has this got to do with Fintry Community Garden? Well, we know from several prominent sources that fruit and vegetables are a pivotal part of a healthy diet. Eating fruit and vegetables will help you keep your digestive system working well as well as help protect you from some cancers, heart disease and strokes.

According to Diabetes UK, fruit and vegetables are one of the 5 groups of foods, and these are naturally low in calories and carbohydrates, which means they are a great choice from those with diabetes but also those trying to prevent diabetes. Find out more about what you can eat with diabetes here.

The Doctors Kitchen is a great website where you can find evidence-based advice aimed at everyone, by Dr Rupi who is a registered doctor here in the UK. There is a great section on the importance of food including fruit and vegetables, but as well as sleep, wellbeing and exercise: https://thedoctorskitchen.com/diabetes/advice-for-diabetes

The NHS also of course talk about the importance of fruit and vegetables in a general sense of health and they talk about getting ideally 5 fruit and vegetable portions a day, as part of a balanced diet. They talk about the importance of the vitamins and minerals these fruit and vegetables will and do have, something I wrote about in a previous blog you can read here. It is not just diabetes that eating a healthy diet can prevent as mentioned before and some of the other conditions that can be prevented and some even treated include malnutrition, non-communicable diseases, and of course heart disease and some cancers. The WHO state the following relating to diabetes:

*Diabetes can be treated and its consequences avoided or delayed with diet, physical activity, medication and regular screening and treatment for complications.

*A healthy diet, regular physical activity, maintaining a normal body weight and avoiding tobacco use are ways to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.

Source: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diabetes

Gardening is of course a form of exercise, some even argue 20 mins of gardening is as good as 20 mins of cardio in the gym. This is where we come in again, if you are interested, you can read more here about how to get involved as a volunteer, benefiting from free exercise as well as a wealth of other benefits.

Something that is clear that fruit and vegetables are not always accessible, despite all this evidence and promotion of consuming them. They can be expensive and some people might not have the resources or skills to use them in recipes for example. I wrote about the social determinants of health before (see here) and this is why community growing is vital now, more than ever. COVID19 will only increase the social determinants of health, and thankfully the Scottish Government recognise the important role community growing has, meaning we have been able to operate during the whole pandemic. Fruit and vegetables need to be accessible, useable and affordable for all, hence our aim is to provide free, fresh fruit and vegetables to all.

Further reading:

WHO Healthy Diet: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/healthy-diet WHO Diabetes: https://www.who.int/health-topics/diabetes#tab=tab_1

British Heart Foundation - Diabetes: https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/risk-factors/diabetes