Gluten-free food sees boom thanks to retailers

Retailers have helped to fuel the “gluten-free food boom” for bakery and other products, in moving the category from a medical niche into the mainstream health and wellness food empire claims Euromonitor International.

According to Euromonitor analyst Ewa Hudson, this category achieved double-digit global value sales growth of 11 per cent, even in recession-hit 2009. In comparison, overall health and wellness products achieved a “much more sedate” 3 per cent growth over the 2004-2009 review period.

In 2009, gluten-free food registered global value sales of US$2.3bn, accounting for 27 per cent of food intolerance sales. Hudson said that half of these sales were generated by bakery products, which is traditionally the most relevant category.

The increased diagnosis of coeliac disease, a genetic disorder requiring sufferers to follow a life-long gluten-free diet, has had a part to play in gluten-free’s gowth, according to the analyst.

It was only until the late 1990s when reliable blood tests became more widely available, since then – incidence figures have leapt to one out of every 100-300 individuals in the general population worldwide, said Hudson.

“The medical world was hit by the profound realisation that coeliac disease was by no means a rare condition,” she said.

“Equally significant was the conclusion that coeliac disease was a global problem affecting people of all ethnicities, rather than just those of European origin,” Hudson added.

According to the analyst, increasing media coverage of gluten-intolerance symptoms, such as fatigue, weight gain, skin rashes and lack of concentration, has also boosted the growth of this category, turning gluten almost into a “enemy of wellness”.

The analyst said that today a significant proportion of gluten-free shoppers are not diagnosed coeliacs but individuals who have diagnosed themselves as being sensitive to gluten, and are cutting it out of their diets with the aim of improving their wellbeing.