Sidebar: Celiac culture in the world

Mitigating diseases that affect your diet like diabetes and celiac are not easy. In the case of celiac specifically, finding workarounds in order to be able to get all of the nutrition one needs can be more difficult than it may originally come across as.

A combination of farming practices, various government regulations as well as general abundance of products can make it harder for celiacs to purchase the one thing that can help mitigate the disease.

At a baseline, a large proportion of the wheat manufactured in the United States is red wheat, a strain of wheat known to have longer shelf life and generate a different flavor profile than the white wheats typical to Europe.

Those with more minute GI symptoms and celiac may note that they do not feel the effects of the gluten as much when consuming European wheat. In an interview for GoodRx, Melissa Groves Azzaro talked about why people might not feel the effects of gluten as much in Europe as opposed to the U.S.

“Wheat grown in the U.S. [tends to be] higher in gluten, whereas there are several more varieties of wheat grown in Europe that are lower in gluten,” Azzaro said. “So they may not cause issues in those who are gluten-sensitive.”

What may be more cost-effective for the general market does not necessarily account for those who have the issues. As such, gluten-free products are oftentimes vastly more expensive than their gluten-filled counterparts.

This has proven to be the case in many areas of the world.

As the prevalence of celiac and gluten intolerance continues to increase, the opposite effect on the availability of gluten-free products occurs.

In a study conducted in 2024, a group of researchers examined the financial costs of being celiac in today’s world, including everything from the direct cost to the patient as well as the societal and healthcare costs they incur.

In congruence with other research used to back this study, Bozorg et al found that gluten-free food was generally 175% more expensive in the United States than wheat based products. At the same time, gluten free food in a country whose diet is primarily bread and wheat based, Italy, sold gluten free products at a 250% price hike.

To add onto these incredulous price increases, the availability of gluten free products is limited.

Another study conducted by Singh et al looked at a group of 20 gluten free products across 30 stores of five different types to investigate what the actual discrepancies were between the products.

This study found that the stores in question had on average 8.2 out of the 20 total products, and that those products again followed the trend of being more expensive than the wheat based products.

In Singh’s conclusion he noted the impacts this could have.

“There is limited availability of gluten-free foods and they are generally more expensive than their standard counterparts,” Singh said. “This may impact on compliance to a gluten-free diet, with potential nutritional and clinical consequences, together with an increased risk of complications.”

Not only are the resources less available for celiacs, but they are also more expensive. This deficiency can only cause more problems for these people in the future, including medical issues related and caused by celiac disease.

Many of the symptoms related to celiac disease have to do with the way the body absorbs nutrition, simply because of how gluten affects the stomach lining. Some of these symptoms can snowball into others and severely impact other aspects of life not necessarily related to consuming gluten.

One of these symptoms that can be elevated by celiac disease is osteoporosis, or when the pores in bones expand to make the bones weaker. A main cause of this disease is a reduced intake of calcium into the body, which could happen due to the reduced amount of villi in the stomach lining that are able to actually process the nutrient.

Osteoporosis specifically can directly affect a person’s ability to walk, because the bones are inherently more brittle and more susceptible to breaking.

Taking into account this reason, as well as symptoms like cognitive impairment, the United States government labeled celiac disease as a disability. Those people with extreme afflictions as a result of the disease can benefit from multiple government disability programs. In some states, like Arizona, it is actually possible to apply for a disability parking placard if the disease has affected life to the point of severe motion impairment.

The U.S also provides a tax deduction for gluten free food, given the cost of the food is at least 7.5 percent of the adjusted gross income, according to Bozorg et al.

Other countries offer different resources to aid celiac people in purchasing food. One of the more open countries in terms of getting people gluten free products for cheaper is the United Kingdom.

The U.K. offers diagnosed celiacs a prescription-based service through the NHS, and according to Coeliac UK, this prescription is limited to only breads and flours in England but Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have more options.

“In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, anyone with a diagnosis of coeliac disease can access gluten free staple products such as bread, flour and pasta in line with national prescribing guidelines.”

Some notable countries, including Italy, Greece, Norway, Sweden and Argentina all offer varying levels of monthly stipends for celiacs based on varying criteria.

According to Bozorg et al, “Other countries provide a monthly stipend to offset the cost of GF food. In Argentina, each individual is allowed $50 per month, whereas in Italy the allowance is based on age and sex.”

These types of programs for celiacs may need to expand in the future though, as the amount of people diagnosed with the disease is increasing every year. The Celiac Disease Foundation says that the population of celiacs is increasing by 7.5% per year. This could incite stark change in gluten free policy in the near future, and make national governments have to address digestive issues with more resources.

However that future is still a ways away, so celiacs have to deal with what policies are available right now, as inconvenient as they are.