A private garden within 100 meters of your home is associated with a 6.8% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes – a finding from one of the largest long-term studies conducted on residential green space and metabolic health. The study also found that living near multiple parks was linked to a 5.7% reduction in risk, and that the number of parks nearby mattered more than how close the nearest one was…@@@
The researchers tracked more than 400,000 participants across a median follow-up of 15.4 years, recording new type 2 diabetes cases from hospital records. Both private gardens and public parks showed protective associations, though through mechanisms that appear to differ. Physical activity, vitamin D exposure, gut microbiome diversity, and stress reduction have all been identified as plausible contributors.
The Study: Scale, Design, and Core Findings
The research drew on data from 423,282 participants in the UK Biobank, tracking new type 2 diabetes cases over a median follow-up of 15.41 years. The team was led by Dr. Chinonso Odebeatu from the University of Queensland’s School of Public Health, with co-authors from Oregon Health & Science University.
To assess green space access, the researchers evaluated the availability of residential gardens and parks within an 800-metre radius of each participant’s home address using the OS MasterMap Greenspace Layer, a detailed geospatial dataset of UK green infrastructure. Type 2 diabetes incidence was determined from hospital records, giving the dataset a degree of clinical precision that self-reported studies typically lack.
