With a gluten free donut business (or gluten free doughnut, depending on what school you went to), we get to meet loads of people who either have been diagnosed with Coeliac Disease or are on a gluten free diet (and who love our gluten free donuts – also free from wheat, yeast, nuts, dairy, eggs and sulphites). We came upon some research from the CSIRO on the subject going gluten or wheat free which we thought we’d share.
The data collected revealed that as many as 1 in 10 Australian adults, or approximately 1.8 million people, were currently avoiding or limiting their consumption of wheat-based products. Women were more likely to be avoiding wheat than men.
The survey also revealed that over half (53%) of those who were avoiding wheat were also avoiding dairy-based foods (lucky for us our donuts / doughnuts tick all these boxes being gluten, wheat and dairy free).
So why are people choosing to avoid wheat?
The article explains the reasons behind this decision are complex. Some respondents reported that they were avoiding wheat due to a diagnosis of coeliac disease (1.1%), or because a family member has been diagnosed with coeliac disease. Others stated they were avoiding wheat for weight-control or taste preferences.
One reason might be that to prove you’re coeliac you have to go on a gluten diet for 6 weeks, which, for a Coeliac, would likely mean 6 weeks of agony. Therefore, there are probably more coeliacs in society than the statistics can show and are possibly not giving the whole story.
However, the vast majority of the survey’s wheat-avoiding respondents were avoiding wheat-containing foods to manage a range of adverse symptoms they attributed to the consumption of these products. Symptoms were mostly gastrointestinal in nature (bloating, wind and abdominal cramps) but also included fatigue/tiredness.
When asked if they had any formal diagnosis including that of an intolerance, allergy, or coeliac disease which required them to avoid wheat, most (84%) of these symptomatic individuals said no.
If you’ve recently searched ‘gluten free donuts near me’ – go to our location page to find the OMG Donut business nearest you.
Source: https://blog.csiro.au/understanding-the-choice-to-go-gluten-or-wheat-free/
