Costly gluten-free patients to switch food in England causing to health-harming diets

Patients with food allergies and health conditions affecting the digestive system are increasingly unable to afford the "free-from" products sold by supermarkets, so are risking painful symptoms or permanent damage, experts have warned.

- Anna Bawden

About 2.3 million people in the UK have either a food allergy or intolerance, or coeliac disease, an autoimmune disorder that means it is not possible to eat gluten. To stay well many people have to buy "freefrom" food, which costs much more than other produce.

A report by the Food Standards Agency in 2022 calculated that adults with a food allergy, intolerance or coeliac disease, already spent up to 27% more on food than those without food hypersensitivities. But the cost of living crisis has made it much more difficult to afford "free-from" food.

The latest Coeliac UK figures show that gluten-free staples are now typically 2.5 times more expensive than non-gluten-free products. A typical loaf of gluten-free bread is 4.4 times more expensive, while the cheapest gluten-free loaves are six times as expensive as their gluten-containing equivalents.

Similarly, the cheapest oat milk typically costs £1.30 to £1.40 a litre, more than double the typical cost of cow's milk.

Dr Kate Evans, a consultant gastroenterologist at Royal Berkshire NHS foundation trust, said that in the last year she had seen a number of patients with coeliac disease who were not sticking to their gluten-free diet because it was too expensive.

"Patients are being referred back because of ongoing symptoms such as abdominal pain, weight loss and diarrhoea," she said.