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The 2 things that an individual all of a sudden detected with celiac illness will quickly find out are that gluten free foods can be difficult to find, and they are expensive. Unfortunately if a celiac wants to recover, they can’t have any gluten in their diet plans, so they need to eat gluten totally free foods, regardless of expenditure. Find out how much more you are likely to pay … .
Gluten Free Enterprise GROWTH
To provide an indication of the size of the gluten totally free market, in 2004, Americans taken in 133 pounds of wheat per individual. From July 2004 to July 2005, consumers spent over $600 million on gluten-free foods, a yearly growth of 14.6%. The marketplace for GF foods and beverages in U.S.A. in 2007 went beyond $700 million, and is anticipated to be $1.7 billion in 2010. Ref2
FINANCIAL EXPENSES
Time is money and gluten totally free is more cash, an easy truth. And while just a couple of studies have been made, they do provide us an excellent sign of what being a celiac can cost you at the money register.
Consider this study in June 2007 “using information from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) about normal home food usage, scientists assembled “market baskets” of routine and gluten-free foods. The accessibility and the distinction in rate in between the 11 regular and gluten-free products in the market basket were compared according the kind of store and the region in which the items were bought. Researchers surveyed regional grocery stores, upscale supermarket or regional chains, organic food shops, and 4 online sites. Areas of the nation were represented by New York City and Westchester County, Portland OR, Atlanta GA, Rapid City SD, and Chicago IL.” Ref 1
” The scientists discovered that organic food shops and online websites had the biggest choice of gluten-free foods, bring 94% and 100% of the market basket items respectively, compared to schedule of 41% in upscale markets and 36% in local grocery shops.” Ref 1
Just How Much MORE?
The price of the gluten-free foods was found to be 79% more than their comparable foods. Bread and pasta was twice as pricey as their wheat-based equivalents. Expense was impacted more by going shopping place than geographic location.
In this American study, GF cereals were found to be the exception in that they cost about the exact same. However in Australia, GF cereals tend to be much more expensive as they are typically offered in smaller boxes (half the weight) for the very same cost as equivalent gluten cereals. It was discovered that internet shopping portals were the most costly place to buy gluten-free foods, followed by natural food shops and upscale markets. Once again in Australia the reverse seems true as we generally discover that online supermarkets are among the most price competitive locations – excluding postage expenses.
The scientists (ref 1) admitted that they carried out the analysis over a relatively small sample number so it is smart to compare this with any other research study. A study on GF Food expense at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia offers more evidence. Ref 2
The contrast was carried out on costs for all foodstuff labelled “gluten-free” and comparable gluten-containing food from 2 large-chain general supermarket. The researchers compared the unit cost of each food, determined as the cost in dollars per 100 grams of each item. Not remarkably, all 56 gluten-free products were more costly than routine products. And in particular:
· The typical unit cost for gluten-free items was $1.71
· The average system rate of regular items was $0.61
· The statistical probability of this outcome was very high (p .
SPECIFIC EXPENSES
The following information is from a 2007 US Government research study (ref 2). It reveals that the expense of gluten-free items is substantially greater than their comparable wheat filled items:
Wheat flour $0.34/ pound TO Brown rice flour $1.89/ lb
Wheat bread $1.09/ loaf TOGluten-free bread $6.00/ loaf
Wheat pasta $0.87/ lb TO Gluten complimentary pasta $3.69/ lb
Chocolate chip cookies $2.69/ lb TOGluten complimentary chocolate chip cookies $12.83/ lb
Wheat crackers $1.63/ pound TO Rice crackers $9.12/ pound
Study by the United States Department of Labor, 2007, Bureau of Labor: Customer Cost Index
US Federal government rebate
One enterprising celiac in the United States discovered what he thought as economic aid for celiac illness. He kept in mind that numerous Internal Revenue Service judgments (Income Ruling 55-261; Revenue Ruling 76-80, 67 TC 481; Cohen 38 TC 37; Van Kalb TC MEMO 1978 366; Flemming TC MEMO 1980 583), permit the cost difference between gluten including foodstuff and specialty gluten-free options to be tax deductible for Celiac clients.
Sadly he also found that only the portion which exceeds a 7.5% threshold of adjusted gross income for all medical expenditures combined would be deductible. This implies that on an earnings of $50,000, one could just deduct any additional cost of GF foods (and any other lawfully deductible medical expense) that surpassed $3,750 (7.5% of $50,000)!
With the cost of celiac disease to the community, via extra healthcare when the illness is not identified early enough, legislators in the US are considering the economic impacts on the nation. Although as the above examples reveals, it is likely to be a very long time prior to any significant shopping cart relief is provided.
CONCLUSIONS
The rationale for the additional expenditure of gluten complimentary foods you spend for is compelling:
· GF foods require to have assembly line and factories cleaned of all gluten items before they can be manufactured. This single usage environment typically suggests production costs for producers are increased.
· GF is a fledgling and captive market, only a small number of suppliers are producing foods that meet the strict GF requirements. This suggests that they have the ability to set a higher rate for their fairly unique items.
· Supply is frequently restricted to specialized stores, which generally have higher margins.
· Extra ingredients (such as xanthan gum, guargum, etc.) need additional preparation actions that contribute to the cost.Until enough celiac are diagnosed (present levels in industrialized countries are often between 10-20%), to reach a crucial mass in the production and retail sections< img src=" http://www.articlesfactory.com/pic/x.gif" alt=" Free Articles" border=" 0 "/ >, the costs will stayhigh. Referrals Ref1 http://www.celiac.com/articles/21502/1/Low-Availability-and-Increased-Cost-of-Gluten-Free-Foods/Page1.html!.?.!Ref 2 www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/digestive-health/nutritionarticles/CuretonArticle.pdf!.?.!Ref 3 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov!.?.!Ref 4 http://www.celiac.com/articles/835/1/Flexible-Spending-Accounts-and-Celiac-Disease-by-Dwight-Senne/Page1.html Gluten Free Diet