Current Challenges in Nutrition and Lifestyle for Celiac Disease Patients

Dear Colleagues,

To date, a gluten-free diet (GFD) is the only effective and safe treatment for conditions associated with gluten consumption (such as celiac disease, non-celiac wheat sensitivity, wheat allergy). This diet includes foods naturally lacking gluten and processed foods that avoid gluten as an ingredient and contamination during processing. Although restrictions refer mainly to breads and baking doughs, the high consumption of these makes them one of the main difficulties and complaints among those that follow the diet. Everybody on a GFD must learn to successfully manage these factors to maintain good health and a good quality of life.

After diagnosis, initiation of GFD represents a major and abrupt disruption in the person consumption habits and lifestyle and is more expensive than a regular diet. In addition, if the diet is not properly monitored, eliminating wheat, barley, and rye often makes gluten-free products pose nutritional risks. Gluten is a relevant ingredient in food technology, and to date, replacing it is a relevant challenge. Choosing substitutes often focuses on taste, texture, and palatability rather than nutritional quality, resulting in poor protein, fiber, iron, and vitamin content and the development of nutritional deficiencies.

The current global trend is to achieve a healthier diet, and this means that “free of” products are emerging as an attractive market that should meet both the nutritional needs and preferences of the groups following a GFD. This represents a huge challenge for the global market considering that cultural habits, lifestyle, social barriers, psychological needs, and so many other factors vary so much around the world.

In this Special Issue, we invite researchers to present their different approaches and perspectives to the nutritional, social, environmental, food-related technical areas of these interesting problems posed by a gluten-free diet, and the strategies developed by those that follow this diet to sustain a good quality of life.

Prof. Dr. Magdalena Araya
Guest Editor

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• celiac disease
• nonceliac wheat sensitivity
• wheat allergy
• gluten-free diet
• wheat
• gluten-free foods
• food nutrition
• food technology
• quality of life
• cultural feeding habits
• gluten substitutes
• food