As gluten-intolerant and coeliac families know all too well, shopping for gluten-free options can be an expensive (not to mention at times painstaking) exercise.
Now a new from University of Wollongong, published last month in Nutrition & Dietetics journal, has proven what their back pockets have always felt: that their grocery bills are a whopping 17 per cent higher than those of gluten-eating households.
The figure is based on a family with two intolerant children and, according to Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA), "demonstrates for the first time that a gluten-free diet is a significant financial burden for many Australian family types".
"For those diagnosed with coeliac disease, compliance to a gluten-free diet may be more difficult for some families due to the cost of gluten-free foods," the DAA tells SBS.
Collating data from a variety of supermarkets in NSW’s Illawarra region, the study looked at the difference in price between gluten-free and non gluten-free shopping trolleys.
Government website estimates that Australian couples with children spend on average between $224 and $314 on food and drink a week.
This would mean families on a gluten-intolerant diet fork out around $46 more with every weekly visit to the checkout. Gluten-free flour, for example, was found to be around 570 per cent of the price of the standard variety, a high cost for those who are baking alternatives at home.
The study also found that the hardest hit group is single men on welfare. To fill their recommended weekly amount of calories, gluten-intolerant men have to spend up to 75 per cent of their welfare payments.
People will say to me 'I don't follow the diet' and it's not because they don't know or they find it difficult to find foods, it's because they can't afford it.
For many, eating gluten-free isn't an option but rather a health necessity, and the key researcher behind the new study, nutritionist and dietitian Kelly Lambert, tells SBS Food that one of the primary issues is what impact these high prices have on patient's dietary compliance.
"In professional practice, people will say to me 'I don't follow the diet' and it's not because they don't know or they find it difficult to find foods, it's because they can't afford it," she says.
"Unfortunately the health cost of that is really high. You can have an increased risk of bowel cancer, osteoporosis, and an ongoing iron deficiency. With coeliac disease a little bit [of gluten] is dangerous."
Lambert suggests a national program to subsidise gluten-free products for coeliacs should be considered by legislators.
In and the shoppers diagnosed with coeliac disease can receive a prescription to reduce the cost of staple gluten-free foods, bringing down the financial burden of their diet.
“We really need some way in Australia to make that playing field more level because it’s not fair that families that have a member with a medical problem have to pay so much more just to treat the disease," she says.
“We have pharmacy products at a subsidised rate. This is essentially the same thing. It’s just that it happens to be food."
Sally Tobin from Coeliac Australia agrees, telling SBS Food the disease is "a serious auto-immune illness which affects 1 in 70 Australians".
"Coeliac Australia would welcome government assistance to improve the affordability of gluten-free food, particularly for people with coeliac disease living on a low income."
A spokesperson from DAA adds that "being able to access nutritious food has a huge impact on overall health – and all Australians have the right to access the food they need for good health, no matter where they live and what their personal nutrition requirements are.
"This research shows that families on welfare, with people who require a gluten-free diet, are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity."
They recommend that people with coeliac disease "eat healthy foods, such as fruit and vegetables, which are also naturally gluten-free, in the right amounts, and to cook more at home – which will reduce foods costs for people needing a gluten-free diet".
With her husband, mother-in-law and one of her children diagnosed with coeliac disease, Lambert is more than familiar with the daily struggle to find nutritious, quick and cost-effective meals.
One option her family uses is taking carbohydrate-rich options such as sushi, quiche or rice salad for lunch instead of sandwiches.
She adds that part of the solution also involves having better convenience food options available, otherwise “people tend to fall back on high-fat, takeaway options, which you don’t necessarily want but that’s all you’ve got available to you”.
