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- Title
Persistent Barriers of the Gluten-Free Basic Food Basket: Availability, Cost, and Nutritional Composition Assessment.
- Authors
Estévez, Virginia; Rodríguez, Juan Manuel; Schlack, Pía; Navarrete, Pedro; Bascuñán, Karla A.; Núñez, Victoria; Oyarce, Camila; Flores, Catalina; Ayala, Jimena; Araya, Magdalena
- Abstract
Gluten-related disorders are treated with a gluten-free diet. The "basic food basket" (BFB) consists of a list of basic foods consumed by low-income groups in society, including those lowest-cost versions within each food category. To evaluate the cost, availability, and nutritional quality of the BFB and gluten-free BFB (GF-BFB), foods were photographed, registering their cost, availability, and nutritional characteristics, in high quality and mid-range supermarkets, wholesalers, health shops, and corner shops, matching each regular BFB product with a gluten-free equivalent. Of the 1177 potential products, the selection of lowest-cost foods yielded 55 and 47 products (BFB and GF-BFB, respectively). Breads/cereals and drinks showed the highest differences (279% and 146%, respectively) while meats and sausages showed the lowest ones (18.6%). The GF-BFB cost represents 30.1% of the minimum wage, which covers the cost of 5.2 and 3.3 of the BFB and GF-BFB per month, respectively. Availability ranged between 22.7 and 42.4%. Lower availability was associated with poorer nutritional quality in the GF-BFB, which provides 5% less energy, 26% more fat, and 25% less protein than the BFB. Only 47% of gluten-free products declared their "gluten-free" condition. The results strongly suggest that the GF-BFB must be redesigned to be both gluten-free and nutritionally adequate.
- Subjects
NUTRITIONAL value; BREAD; COST control; EGGS; NUTRITIONAL assessment; GRAIN; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; MEAT; GLUTEN-free diet; NUTRITIONAL status; CELIAC disease; COMPARATIVE studies; GROCERY industry
- Publication
Nutrients, 2024, Vol 16, Issue 6, p885
- ISSN
2072-6643
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/nu16060885