JNSS 2022, 13(1-2):39-47 | DOI: 10.32725/jnss.2022.005

Availability and financial demands of a gluten-free diet

Denisa Machovcová

University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Institute of Laboratory Diagnostics and Public Health, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

Celiac disease (also known as celiac sprue or gluten-sensitive enteropathy, or gluten enteropathy) is a term for a lifelong chronic autoimmune disease. One of the primary therapeutic approaches is introducing a special gluten-free diet. This diet is demanding in terms of preparation, finances, and availability.
We cooperated with a nutritional therapist and a general nurse working in a gastroenterology surgery to achieve the goal of finding out the availability of a gluten-free diet when eating out, the reasons why patients most often violate the set diet, and the financial demands of a gluten-free diet compared to a normal diet.
We used a questionnaire to obtain information about these problems. The questionnaire was sent electronically to patients who had been diagnosed with celiac disease and confirmed that they followed a gluten-free diet. They filled in the questionnaires anonymously and sent them back to the researcher. We used 296 questionnaires for evaluation.
The results showed that 20.3% of respondents did not go to mass caterers (for many reasons). The remaining 79.7% went to such facilities despite dietary restrictions. 80% of respondents reported going to such facilities less than once a week. 11.7% of respondents go to such facilities once a week, and 8.4% go there every other day. Another reason for not going to such facilities is a higher price than a regular diet.

Keywords: Availability of meals; Celiac disease; Dietician; Diets away from home; Financial demandingness; Gastroenterological surgeries

Received: November 24, 2021; Accepted: March 17, 2022; Published: March 1, 2022  Show citation