The cost of being gluten-free: a hedonic pricing analysis of food products for celiac patients.

IF 3.3 3区经济学 Q1 ECONOMICS

Health Economics Review Pub Date : 2025-10-24 DOI:10.1186/s13561-025-00677-w

Laia Soler, Nicolas Borzykowski

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: The gluten-free diet (GFD) has gained interest in recent years. While evidence showing that the GFD has a positive impact on everybody's health is weak, people with specific gluten-related disorders may benefit from it. As the only available treatment for celiac disease, the GDF can however not be followed without any additional cost.

Method: To measure it, we collected a rich database of gluten-free and gluten-containing products on the Swiss retail market. Using a hedonic pricing method, we disentangled the price of these products and estimated the gluten-free premium.

Results: We show that gluten-free products are on average 79% more expensive than regular products, which leads to an annual food-budget increase of CHF 421 (approx. the same in USD) (+ 77%) per patient.

Conclusion: These results highlight the need to reflect on the social policies accompanying celiac disease in Switzerland, as there is currently no support from the disability or health insurance for these patients.

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无麸质食品的成本：对乳糜泻患者食品的享乐定价分析。

背景：无谷蛋白饮食（GFD）近年来引起了人们的兴趣。虽然有证据表明GFD对每个人的健康都有积极的影响，但患有特定麸质相关疾病的人可能会从中受益。然而，作为乳糜泻唯一可用的治疗方法，GDF不能在没有任何额外费用的情况下遵循。方法：为了测量它，我们收集了瑞士零售市场上无麸质和含麸质产品的丰富数据库。采用享乐定价法，我们解开这些产品的价格和估计无谷蛋白溢价。结果：我们发现，无麸质产品比普通产品平均贵79%，这导致每年的食品预算增加421瑞士法郎（约421美元）。每名患者（+ 77%）。结论：这些结果强调了瑞士需要反思与乳糜泻相关的社会政策，因为目前这些患者没有残疾或健康保险的支持。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Health Economics Review Multiple-

CiteScore

3.90

自引率

4.20%

发文量

审稿时长

13 weeks

期刊介绍： Health Economics Review is an international high-quality journal covering all fields of Health Economics. A broad range of theoretical contributions, empirical studies and analyses of health policy with a health economic focus will be considered for publication. Its scope includes macro- and microeconomics of health care financing, health insurance and reimbursement as well as health economic evaluation, health services research and health policy analysis. Further research topics are the individual and institutional aspects of health care management and the growing importance of health care in developing countries.