Where can I find the figures to back ... - Gluten Free Guerr...
Where can I find the figures to back up the growth in coeliac diagnosis? I'm a small food producer making gorgeous and gluten free products.
Very tricky - we tried to find this out ourselves but the only figs the NHS / Health authorities use are Coeliac UK the membership charity. They only include their actual members so it doesn't actually include all coeliacs.
I'd try web research:
- google trends - search celiac + coeliac and diagnosis + growth
On average a 1000 new members join Coeliac uk a month. Yet bear in mind that's only those that choose to join - not all who are diagnosed.
Also search Coeliac research + Italy, USA, NZ as these countries have growth.
Also look at articles in the Grocer/ Retail week on the rise of the Free From market. There's lots of money to be had - esp when you have customers for life!
Good luck. Keep us posted.
Hi Fiona, Just wanted to add a little note here ..
I found Coeliac UK as well as here purely by chance.
I think it would be wonderful, if when diagnosed, a small leaflet of information was given to a patient with all helpful connections regarding coeliac disease.
There must be many, many people out there who are not informed about Coeliac UK or any other organisation that are a lifeline to people with the disease. It must be especially difficult for those without any Internet access.
Perhaps we could try and bring weight somehow to ensure that Doctors' surgeries ensure that all coeliac patients are given this essential information.
It is a very lonely place to be if there is no knowledge of where help or information can be obtained.
I agree with Fiona this is tricky as it relies on coeliac joining CUK.
This is a link to Juvela's web site, they are a manufacturer of codex products available on precription and they say there are 125K giagnosed coeliac in the UK and that according to the number of new members that join CUK each year there are 7K coeliac diagnosed each year.
Please see:
juvela.co.uk/questions-and-...
There is not a register of diagnosed coeliac in the UK as we have discussed this on here before and the above figures have remained constant for the last couple of years as has CUK's membership which they claim is around 55K. So I'd see it as an estimate.
I look forward to hearing more about your products.
Ps this is the question and answer and it is based on 2001 statistics
Q. How many people in the UK have coeliac disease?
A. There are approximately 125,000 people known to have the condition, and the numbers are increasing. On average, over 7000 people are diagnosed with coeliac disease in the UK each year (based on Coeliac UK membership statistics 2001). Experts researching the condition believe that the condition may affect as many as one person in every 100.
I would like to say that the coeliac Australia are most helpfull and assist many in living a healthy life. They are not a business and loby the Government constantly about coeliac issues.
Thank you all, I really appreciate all the advice.
This is on CUK's site and it's page 3:
foodhealthinnovation.com/me...
This was written last year and it says it is estimated that there are up to 150K diagnosed coeliac in the UK and that 1200 are being diagnosed every month. It also says that CUK have 60K members.
Now if in 2001 before CUK introduced membership fee's they had 125K members and 7000+ coeliac have been diagnosed every year since and obviously some coeliac will have passed away but I would think that a good estimate would be 200/225K diagnosed coeliac in the UK based on their figures. The maths being 125000 + 10x7000+ = 195,000+ then allowing for the 7000pa increasing to 14,400 for the last 2 years. We have 200K+
The reason that CUK had to introduce fee's was the no of members contributing went from 90+% 15 years ago to around 35% in 2000.
Being a cynic and as this document is for their advertisers I don't think that it's in their best interests to tell potential advertisers that they only have a membership of around 25/30% of diagnosed coeliac especially as they have free membership for the first 6 months.
I think that it would make a really interesting poll to have on GFG about how many GFG members are members of CUK
The prevalence of seropositive (i.e. with antibodies but not necessarily with symptoms) coeliac disease is about 1.2% of the general population when you look at cross-sectional studies. (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/128...
However, obviously most of these people are not diagnosed in 'real life' and consequently do not follow a GF diet. On the other hand, there is a substantial number of people who buy GF for other reasons- seronegative gluten intolerance, for example.
To reiterate what everyone else has said- if your products are good-tasting and of decent value, you'll have an extremely loyal customer base, particularly if you make the effort to publicise your product to coeliacs across the country. Good luck! (And if you need a taster, you know where to find me!)
I should add that the figures of diagnosed coeliacs are increasing all the time, particularly with the newish NICE guidelines that have been released regarding recommendations for situations in which testing is appropriate.
It would be interesting to see how people get diagnosed percentage wise - whether it is straight from symptoms or as a result of a related condition.
I wonder how many more people would be diagnosed if Coeliac Disease was given more prominence on the media in general. We could do with a programme or two during prime time that really explains symptoms and how to get diagnosed, etc.
I think this would probably increase awareness massively. Even a 'celeb' with coeliac who gave a few interviews would help.
I'm with you on this one. We could do with a young dynamic celebrity to put coeliac disease in the spotlight and keep it there.
It would also be nice if a member of the Royal Family could embrace coeliac disease as one of their charities.
And last but not least a brooch and pin for coeliac disease and perhaps a ribbon day once every year!
