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The two things that an individual all of a sudden detected with celiac disease will rapidly learn are that gluten totally free foods can be tough to discover, and they are expensive. Unfortunately if a celiac wishes to recover, they can’t have any gluten in their diet plans, so they have to eat gluten complimentary foods, despite cost. Learn how much more you are most likely to pay … .
Gluten Free Enterprise DEVELOPMENT
To provide an indicator of the size of the gluten free market, in 2004, Americans consumed 133 pounds of wheat per person. From July 2004 to July 2005, customers invested over $600 million on gluten-free foods, an annual development of 14.6%. The marketplace for GF foods and drinks in U.S.A. in 2007 exceeded $700 million, and is anticipated to be $1.7 billion in 2010. Ref2
ECONOMIC EXPENSES
Time is money and gluten complimentary is more cash, a basic fact. And while just a few studies have been made, they do provide us a good indication 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 common family food intake, researchers put together “market baskets” of routine and gluten-free foods. The availability and the distinction in price in between the 11 routine and gluten-free items in the market basket were compared according the type of store and the area in which the items were acquired. Scientist surveyed local supermarket, high end supermarket or regional chains, natural food shops, and 4 online sites. Areas of the country were represented by New York City and Westchester County, Portland OR, Atlanta GA, Rapid City SD, and Chicago IL.” Ref 1
” The researchers discovered that health food shops and online sites had the largest selection of gluten-free foods, carrying 94% and 100% of the marketplace basket items respectively, compared to accessibility of 41% in high end markets and 36% in regional supermarket.” Ref 1
HOW MUCH MORE?
The price of the gluten-free foods was found to be 79% more than their equivalent foods. Bread and pasta was two times as pricey as their wheat-based equivalents. Expense was impacted more by shopping location than geographic location.
In this American research study, GF cereals were discovered to be the exception in that they cost about the same. However in Australia, GF cereals tend to be a lot more expensive as they are typically offered in smaller boxes (half the weight) for the exact same cost as comparable gluten cereals. It was found that web shopping websites were the most expensive place to buy gluten-free foods, followed by natural food stores and high end markets. Once again in Australia the reverse appears to be real as we normally find that online supermarkets are among the most price competitive locations – leaving out postage costs.
The researchers (ref 1) confessed that they performed the analysis over a reasonably small sample number so it is a good idea to compare this with any other research study. A study on GF Food expense at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia supplies more evidence. Ref 2
The comparison was carried out on rates for all foodstuff labelled “gluten-free” and comparable gluten-containing food from 2 large-chain basic grocery stores. The scientists compared the unit cost of each food, calculated as the price in dollars per 100 grams of each product. Not surprisingly, all 56 gluten-free products were more expensive than regular products. And in particular:
· The average system cost for gluten-free products was $1.71
· The typical unit rate of routine items was $0.61
· The statistical possibility of this outcome was very high (p .
PARTICULAR COSTS
The following data is from a 2007 US Government study (ref 2). It reveals that the cost of gluten-free items is substantially greater than their equivalent wheat filled items:
Wheat flour $0.34/ pound TO Wild rice flour $1.89/ lb
Wheat bread $1.09/ loaf TOGluten-free bread $6.00/ loaf
Wheat pasta $0.87/ pound TO Gluten free pasta $3.69/ pound
Chocolate chip cookies $2.69/ lb TOGluten totally free chocolate chip cookies $12.83/ pound
Wheat crackers $1.63/ lb TO Rice crackers $9.12/ pound
Research study by the US Department of Labor, 2007, Bureau of Labor: Customer Cost Index
United States Federal government refund
One resourceful celiac in the US discovered what he believed as economic subsidy for celiac disease. He noted that a number of IRS judgments (Income Judgment 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 in between gluten consisting of food items and specialty gluten-free options to be tax deductible for Celiac clients.
Unfortunately he also found that only the portion which goes beyond a 7.5% threshold of adjusted gross earnings for all medical costs combined would be deductible. This suggests that on an earnings of $50,000, one might just deduct any extra cost of GF foods (and any other legally deductible medical expenditure) that exceeded $3,750 (7.5% of $50,000)!
With the cost of celiac disease to the community, through additional healthcare when the illness is not detected early enough, legislators in the US are considering the economic impacts on the nation. Although as the above examples shows, it is likely to be a long time before any significant shopping cart relief is offered.
CONCLUSIONS
The rationale for the additional cost of gluten complimentary foods you pay for is engaging:
· GF foods require to have production lines and factories cleaned up of all gluten items before they can be produced. This single usage environment typically means production costs for producers are increased.
· GF is a fledgling and captive market, just a small number of providers are producing foods that fulfill the strict GF requirements. This indicates that they are able to set a higher rate for their relatively unique products.
· Supply is frequently limited to specialized shops, which normally have higher margins.
· Additional components (such as xanthan gum, guargum, and so on) require additional preparation actions that contribute to the cost.Until enough celiac are detected (existing levels in developed nations are often between 10-20%), to reach an important mass in the manufacturing and retail sectors< img src=" http://www.articlesfactory.com/pic/x.gif" alt=" Free Reprint Articles" border= "0"/ >, the prices will stay high. 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 Plan