COVID-19 Impact on Gluten-Free Cereal in Food and Beverage Industry
The global market has taken a serious hit due to the widespread impact of the coronavirus. The economies of multiple countries have seen major decline and the unemployment rate have further increased. For instance, according to report published by The World Bank Group on impact of COVID-19, the global GDP was below 2 percent of the global benchmark. Moreover, the GDP of developing countries was 2.5 percent below the benchmark and the GDP of industrial countries was 1.8 percent below the benchmark. Moreover, the impact is only limited to country level impact but has disrupted the overall management and business of various industries.
This drastic change due to COVID-19 has also been reflected in the sectors as gluten-free cereal which is still at a nascent stage. In the recent years, the market has seen a special inclination and growth for the gluten-free product such as gluten-free cereal due to the awareness for harmful effects of gluten and diseases as celiac. The COVID-19 has brought in new opportunities for this market due to the nature of the virus, the global community prioritised health over other things and has been shifting towards healthy food products as gluten-free cereal.
CELIAC DISEASE AND COVID-19
As though celiac disease which is been triggered in patients when gluten product is eaten have no direct impact on the risk of COVID-19. But celiac disease can often cause type I diabetes and thyroid in it patients due to which the patient become prone to the risk of the coronavirus. Thus, the overall increase in this disease will impact the risk towards coronavirus.
For instance,
• In 2020, according to The American College of Gastroenterology, 1.4% of the population is suffering from celiac disease and 0.7% of population is biopsy confirmed of celiac disease on the basis of serology diagnosis
• According to Canadian Digestive Health Foundation, nearly 1% of Canadian population is suffering from celiac disease which makes 1 individual out of 114 and about 90% population remains undiagnosed.
• According to the data published by The Institute for Functional Medicine in 2020, the incidences of celiac disease have increased by 7.5% in the last 10 years where the highest incidences are seen among children and women.
FIGURE 1. GLOBAL PREVALENCE OF CELIAC DISEASE BASED ON SEROLOGIC TESTS Read in detail...