Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jun;43(3):668-678.
doi: 10.1007/s12664-024-01519-z. Epub 2024 May 16.

Gluten-free foods are expensive and nutritionally imbalanced than their gluten-containing counterparts

Wajiha Mehtab  1   2 , Samagra Agarwal  1 , Harsh Agarwal  1 , Anam Ahmed  1 , Ashish Agarwal  3 , Shubham Prasad  1 , Ashish Chauhan  4 , Anjali Bhola  1 , Namrata Singh  1 , Vineet Ahuja  1 , Anita Malhotra  5 , Govind K Makharia  6
Affiliations

Gluten-free foods are expensive and nutritionally imbalanced than their gluten-containing counterparts

Wajiha Mehtab et al. Indian J Gastroenterol. 2024 Jun.

Abstract

Objectives: Nutritional quality of gluten-free (GF) food products is very important, as patients with celiac disease consume these products for lifelong. There is paucity of data on the nutritional content and cost of GF food products compared with their gluten-containing (GC) counterparts from India (Asia).

Design: After a detailed market survey, packaged and labeled GF food products (n=485) and their packaged GC counterparts (n=790) from the supermarkets of Delhi (India) and e-commerce websites were included. Nutritional content and cost/100 g food (in US dollars) were calculated using the information on food label.

Results: Gluten-free food products were 232% (range: 118% to 376%) more expensive than their GC counterparts. Energy content of all GF food products was similar to their GC counterparts, except cereal-based snacks (GF: 445 kcal vs. GC: 510 kcal, p<0.001). The protein content was significantly lower in GF pasta and macaroni products (single-grain: GF: 6.5 g vs. GC:11. 5 g, p-0.002; multigrain: GF:7.6 g vs. GC:11.5 g, p-0.027), cereal flours (single-grain: GF: 7.6 g vs. GC: 12.3 g, p<0.001; multigrain: GF:10.9 g vs. GC: 14.1 g, p-0.009) and nutritional bars (GF: 21.81 g vs. GC:26 g, p-0.028) than their GC counterparts. Similarly, the dietary-fiber content of GF pasta and macaroni products, cereal flours, cereal premix and nutritional bars of GF foods was significantly lower than their GC counterparts. Gluten-free bread and confectionary items, biscuits and cookies and snacks had higher total fats and trans-fat content than their GC counterparts. Gluten-free cereal-based snacks had higher sodium content than their GC counterparts (GF: 820 mg vs. GC:670 mg; p<0.001).

Conclusion: GF foods are significantly more expensive, contain less protein and dietary fiber and higher fat, trans-fat and sodium than their GC counterparts. Strategies must be developed to reduce the cost and improve the nutritional profile of GF foods.

Keywords: Celiac disease; Comparison; Cost; Gluten; Gluten-containing food; Gluten-free diet; Gluten-free foods; Nutritional quality; Nutritive value; Small intestine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Ludvigsson JF, Leffler DA, Bai JC, et al. The Oslo definitions for coeliac disease and related terms. Gut. 2013;62:43–52.
    1. Lebwohl B, Sanders DS, Green PHR. Coeliac disease. Lancet. 2018;391:70–81.
    1. Pellegrini N, Agostoni C. Nutritional aspects of gluten-free products. J Sci Food Agric. 2015;95:2380–5.
    1. One-in-three Australians avoid gluten, dairy or meat: CSIRO [Internet]. Topics. Available from: https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/voices/health/article/2016/09/26/one-three... . Accessed 25 July 2021
    1. Unalp-Arida A, Ruhl CE, Brantner TL, Everhart JE, Murray JA. Less hidden celiac disease but increased gluten avoidance without a diagnosis in the United States: findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from 2009 to 2014. Mayo Clin Proc. 2017;92:30–8.

LinkOut - more resources