In short:
People affected by coeliac disease are struggling to afford the rising cost of gluten-free products.
Studies show most allergen-free foods are between four and five times more expensive than those that contain gluten.
What’s next?
Industry experts are advocating for a subsidised medical food program for those who require allergen-free foods.
Rebecca can vividly remember the day she was diagnosed with coeliac disease five years ago.
“I stood there at the doctor surgery, and I was arguing with the doctor because no one wants to be a coeliac,” she said.
“I knew everything had to change.”
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The only treatment for the autoimmune condition is to follow a strict gluten-free diet, but the products are often more expensive than groceries with gluten.
It’s an additional financial burden the single mother of two has been struggling to afford.
“It’s really frustrating because it’s not my fault,” Rebecca said.
“It would be different if it was just a lifestyle choice, but this is for my health and if I don’t eat gluten-free, I can get really, really sick.”
Her 11-year-old son Alex also gets debilitating symptoms from eating gluten, but he can’t be diagnosed with coeliac disease because doctors advised the testing required was too “unsafe”.
“He’d get really sick, he’d start vomiting, he’d get cluster migraines … he’s had to go through MRI’s and a whole range of medical testing to find out what’s going on with him,” Rebecca said.
She recalled one occasion when Alex was accidentally given food containing gluten and ended up with a serious liver injury.
“He was off school for a very long time, he stopped eating [and] in one week, he lost over four kilos, he couldn’t move, he was so sick,” she said.
The 41-year-old registered nurse said she has been forced to find a second job due to cost of living pressures, which have been compounded by the price of allergen-free groceries.
“Obviously interest rates are going up, everything’s getting more expensive, the price of food has gone up as well, petrol has gone up, [but] wages haven’t gone up, so that’s a bit harder,” Rebecca said.
“The food bill is massive so you’re just trying to find ways to kind of cut corners … it really comes to a struggle but I know I’ve got to budget that extra amount of money so we can afford to eat.”
Health paying the price
It’s a similar story for Karen Harvey, who often works seven days a week to afford gluten-free food for her and her daughter Alexis.
“[Previously] I could easily get away with $150 to $200 for a food shop for a week [but] now it’ll be easily up to the $400,” she said.
“The bread is like $21 a week just for me and Alexis, while my son’s bread is about $3.
“You notice it in your hip pocket when that happens. That is a huge difference and that’s why I can’t believe that we’re in 2024 and we still haven’t got around that.”
Ms Harvey noticed the cost of gluten-free foods significantly increased following the pandemic.
“I sometimes buy the gluten-free stuff just for my daughter because I can’t afford it for both of us,” she said.
“It’s actually depressing going to the shops and seeing the price difference in things and the quantity, too.
“Things that [contain] gluten will be in a large quantity for cheaper, and things that are gluten-free will be more expensive and in a smaller quantity and it’s like how does that even work? I don’t understand how people aren’t more of an uproar about it.”
Comparing shopping baskets
Some experts are hoping to create that uproar through research.
An Australian-first study published in the Nutrition and Dietetics journal in 2016 found customers were paying up to 17 per cent more for a gluten-free diet.
University of Wollongong researchers Kelly Lambert and Caitlin Ficken compared the price difference between gluten-free and regular shopping baskets using data from a variety of supermarkets in New South Wales’s Illawarra region.
A recent comparison of the same foods found that while some products had become cheaper, most of the gluten-free items were now around four to five times per cent more expensive.
Currently the cheapest 650g loaf of white bread at Woolworths costs $2.70, while the most affordable gluten-free option is $6.25 for a 440g loaf.
Ms Lambert, who is also an associate professor of dietetics and nutrition, said the high cost of gluten-free foods would “really make a dent in most budgets.”
“When I actually put together what it would cost for those two baskets, it was about $11 for a person that doesn’t require a gluten free diet, and it was $43 for the same products if they were non-gluten containing,” she said.
“So that’s going to hit the hip pocket of every person, regardless of their income level.”
Food on prescription
Despite one in 70 Australians being diagnosed with coeliac disease, Ms Lambert doesn’t think it’s being taken seriously enough.
“I’ve got contacts with people who work for Coeliac Australia, and they’re fielding more and more calls, and hearing more and more from people who are saying they find it incredibly difficult to live with coeliac disease in this current environment,” she said.
“There really does need to be consideration of subsidies for this group of people because they have no alternative as a treatment for their condition.
“Very small amounts of gluten will do these people damage … [and] in the long term, every time you insult your bowel, it may increase your risk of bowel cancer … and it can even affect people’s fertility.”
In New Zealand and the UK, people diagnosed with coeliac disease can receive a prescription to reduce the cost of staple gluten-free foods.
Ms Lambert has been advocating for a similar national subsidised medical food program in Australia.
“People could go into a chemist or another supermarket and could actually receive gluten-free food at an equivalent price to the regular gluten containing items,” she said.
“That’s a really good start because then what that means is people can still continue to have their staple foods, not miss out on micronutrients and fibre and continue to remain healthy.”
The federal government hasn’t said whether it would consider a similar approach, but in a statement, acknowledged “the increasing costs of food in Australia and the challenges in accessing gluten-free foods.”
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