Emmerich Berghofer and Regine Schoenlechner, Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences; Muthgasse 18, A-1190 Vienna, Austria (http://www.dlwt.boku.ac.at)
The Science of Gluten-Free Foods and Beverages
Pages 61-68
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/9781891127670.007
ISBN: 978-1-891127-67-0
Abstract
In northern countries, the prevalence of coeliac disease is steadily increasing. One reason can be found certainly in the fact that new diagnostic methods have been introduced, such as serological tests. Still, the question remains whether the occurrence of coeliac disease is indeed increasing and if there is a connection to the increase in wheat consumption (Anonymous, 2004). Statistical data from the FAO show that production—and thus consumption—of wheat has increased worldwide over the last five decades. In Europe, the dominance of wheat within cereal-based foods is even more distinct. The share of wheat within all produced and consumed cereals has increased from 35% in the year 1961 to almost 50% today (FAOStat, 2007). However, it cannot be clearly stated that the increase in coeliac disease and the dominance of wheat are indeed correlated.
One of the countries with the highest stated prevalence for coeliac disease is the United States, where 1% of the population, i.e., about 3 million people, suffer from coeliac disease (Broz and Horne, 2007). In Europe, the figures are not much different. Based on serological diagnosis, the prevalence for coeliac disease ranges from 1:50 to 1:100 in Sweden (Carlsson et al., 2001) or 1:180 in Italy (Volta et al., 2001).
Because coeliac disease cannot be cured, affected people are dependent on a life-long gluten-free diet. Due to the increasing number of people suffering from coeliac disease, the need for gluten-free foods is becoming economically more and more relevant. Remarkably, a search in the product database “Productscan” revealed that the number of new gluten-free products per year increased from 28 in 1996 to 684 in 2006.
