Leatherhead to study £132M food intolerance market

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Research starts this month on how food manufacturers can exploit opportunities in the allergies, intolerances and the ‘suitable for’ food market, which is predicted to grow to £132M within four years.

Leatherhead Food Research (LFR), will focus on identifying consumption patterns, perceptions and motivations for consuming ‘suitable for’ products. Results will be published in December.
“Demand for food and drink production suitable for consumption by people with specific allergies and intolerances is reportedly on the rise,” said LFR.
“While only a small proportion of the population has a clinically diagnosed allergy to food… a great deal more believe they suffer from an intolerance to certain foods.
Designer disorders
“Moreover, it is believed that there is a growing body of consumers with ‘designer disorders’ – the reasons for consuming dairy-, gluten-, wheat- free product are often linked to other psychological motivations such as weight loss,” it added.
The researchers plan to survey consumers and conduct in-depth interviews with industry leaders in order to: “Identify and evaluate the potential market opportunities for ‘suitable for’ products”.
The research will reveal how much priority manufacturers give to the sector and the level of investment committed to it.
It will also study what rate of growth and return manufacturers expect from the sector plus how competitive they consider it to be, LFR added.

Industry participants could include two questions of their own in the survey, which will be reported back in a separate confidential report. The questions will examine perceptions, attitudes and motivations for consuming ‘suitable for’ foods as well as perceptions of allergen labelling. It will also look at consumption patterns and opportunities for increasing them, said LFR.
The research will be co-funded by a group of food and drink companies and will cover the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States. 3,000 consumers – 500 from each country ­– plus up to 20 major manufacturers, retailers and food service companies will be surveyed.
Need or fad?
The report will also look at the level of understanding manufacturers have regarding labelling legislation and whether demand for ‘suitable for’ products is being driven “by a real need or a fad”, said LFR.
LFR defined the ‘suitable for’ market as products that are: suitable for diabetics, gluten free, reduced or free from allergens and low or free from lactose.
The market for food intolerance products reached £115.8M last year, up 7% from 2009, according to data from research group Euromonitor International.
Gluten free accounted for most of this – accounting for 67% of volume and 71% of value last year.
The food intolerance market is expected to reach a retail value of £132.4M by 2015, compared with £73M retail value in 2005, said Euromonitor.

Banish the Bloat!!!!!!!!

As someone who has spent their entire adult life working in the field of food intolerances and allergies, even I was amazed by the recent case of Kerri Dowdswell, the poor lady who endures incredible stomach bloating after eating.
The pictures of her looking like she was about to give birth are truly startling and her condition has left doctors baffled.
The science of food intolerances is well established, but there is so much we still need to learn about how the body reacts to different food types.
The case of Kerri Dowdswell is obviously an extreme example, but millions of people in the UK have food intolerances of one sort or another - the majority of whom are not even aware that they have a problem.
As this is my first blog for the Huffington Post, it is probably worth introducing myself. I set up Genius Foods a few years ago after my son was diagnosed as being gluten-intolerant. After fruitlessly searching the supermarkets for suitable products, I took matters into my own hands and created a gluten-free bread that actually tasted like bread. Several other food companies are now trying to follow our lead. I am also a qualified chef and published author.
Anyone who is fortunate enough to be able to eat what they want has little idea what it means to be intolerant to a certain type of food that we take for granted.
Imagine what it means to not be able to have a sandwich or a beer or a bowl of pasta. The best part of my job is to meet coeliacs (those that suffer from gluten-intolerance) whom are now able to have that sandwich without suffering the painful consequences of eating normal bread.
And I think therein lies the problem.  For too many people, particularly men, seeking help for a suspected food intolerance means admitting that there is something wrong and possibly then having to make tough lifestyle choices.
Food is such a key part of our daily lives, yet we don't stop to think enough about the physical and emotional responses to what we choose to eat.
Women are undoubtedly better than men at listening to their bodies.  But thankfully our macho menfolk now have some role models that are showing them the way. Just in the last few months, tennis stars Andy Murray and Novak Djokovich, the US pro cycle team and Hollywood actor Russell Crowe have all come out and said they were cutting gluten from their diets to improve their fitness. And Lady GaGa's personal trainer said last week that the pop icon has a gluten-free diet.
For Andy Murray it was a case of choosing gluten-free pasta while he was training. He has said he feels fitter, less bloated after large meals and better prepared to take on the world's best at the forthcoming US Open tennis championship. For professional athletes and actors, choosing a gluten-free diet is not a response to a medical problem - but rather a lifestyle choice that helps them achieve their goals.
But so much more needs to be done to raise awareness about food intolerances and the medical profession and consumers have a key role to play.
In Scotland, where I live, doctors on the east of the country have a much better record at diagnosing food intolerances and allergies than their counterparts in Glasgow and the west coast.  In a day and age where pills are dispensed with enthusiasm for nearly every ill, the medical profession could do well to explore potential dietary solutions to a patient's problem, rather than send them running to the pharmacy. 
At the very least, GPs should be better equipped to recognise the symptoms of a food intolerance when presented by a patient.
Coeliac Disease affects at least 1 in every 100 people in the UK, yet less than one in eight sufferers are diagnosed, according to official estimates.
And as consumers, we could do ourselves a huge favour by listening to our bodies.  Too many people still do not make a connection between what they eat and how they are feeling.
My industry, for its part, has a job to make it easier for those with gluten intolerance to live a normal and dare I say it - more palatable - life.

SavingsAngel.com: 5 tips to cut your grocery bill in half

The easiest way to cut your grocery bill in half is by using manufacturers' coupons combined with the best sales at local West Michigan stores. Normally, this takes a lot of work to create a winning shopping list for your family.
Each week, SavingsAngel.com combines more than 2,000 products on sale at local grocery and drug stores with their enormous database of manufacturer coupons -- which are found in Sunday's Grand Rapids Press and, sometimes, online. This combination results in access to more than 300 products each week for 50 percent off or better.
Did you see the four big coupon inserts in Sunday’s paper? One thing manufacturers know about kids being back in school is that parents start getting back to regular shopping. This means lots of compelling coupon offers to sway those shopping dollars.
In celebration of the wave of new couponers starting this month, I’d like to present my top five tips that will help you cut your grocery bill in half.
Buy only the best deals
The best means 50 percent off or better. Buying only what you need week to week is the most expensive way to shop. Why would you buy full-price products when there are hundreds of others you can get for 50 to 80 percent off? Unless you want to grow all your own food, the best way for the majority of Americans to significantly cut their grocery bills is applying very high value coupons to great local sales. I wish I could tell you there was another way, but nearly every expert I’ve studied on this subject agrees on this point. Coupons are designed to do one thing: Get shoppers to buy their product. If you time the coupon redemption correctly, you’ll get to try all the latest products for pennies on the dollar.
Stock up
Let’s say that you can get Cheerios for $1 a box by applying a high value coupon to a great local sale. Let’s also assume that based on what your family eats, you will need a second box of Cheerios in three weeks. Doesn’t it make sense that you would go ahead and buy the second (or third or fourth) box today when you can get it for 75 percent off? You will save $5 to $9 on Cheerios alone by employing this strategy. This is the same plan we apply to nearly everything you buy on a regular basis and as a result, our total grocery bill drops by 50 to 75 percent.
Not your Mom’s couponing system
Not everyone can clip hundreds of coupons every week. I would guess only a small percentage of shoppers will realistically do this. This is why we use technology like SavingsAngel.com to do the ‘mass clipping’ for us. When a coupon comes out, many shoppers take that coupon out to the store and end up saving a small percentage on a full-price, brand-name product. What they didn’t realize is they should have waited three weeks to redeem the coupon when the product was on sale for half price. How would you keep track of all this without a system in place to do the work for you? It would otherwise be a lot of work. Watch TLC’s reality show "Extreme Couponing" if you don’t believe me. While the Extreme Couponers may save a great deal of money, they can also spend 10 to 20 hours a week to get those results. For those of us with busy lifestyles, let high-tech do the work for you.
Coupons for almost everything
If you aren’t following my advice and you go shopping this week, I want you to hear these words in your head every time you put something in your cart: “There’s probably a coupon for that.” A search on our coupon database revealed there are over 2,900 coupons you could be using right now. It doesn’t matter if you eat organic, gluten-free, vegan or Neanderthal. Manufacturers want you to try their food — and they’re willing you pay you to do so. My advice? Use their money -- not yours.
Don’t put this off
Each week you delay shopping smarter costs you $100.
You can follow my tips, or you can continue to shop the way you have always shopped. The reality is you are paying a luxury tax to not apply your Sunday coupons to the best local sales. It’s a luxury tax that can cost you a hundred dollars a week or more. Personally, I can think of many other things I would rather do with a hundred dollars a week than contribute toward retailer and manufacturer profits. Whether your goals are to get out of debt, save for retirement, give more to the things you really believe in, or have more fun, an extra $300 to $400 a month is a significant amount of money. You can have this simply from investing in a Sunday paper (perhaps a few extra copies to get even more coupons), technology to assist you in saving time and more money, and an extra hour or two a week.

Just love that !!! In Munich, laundromat meets gourmet café

In Munich, laundromat meets gourmet café

12th September 2011 in Lifestyle & Leisure.

If books and coffee can be successfully combined — or books and pizza, for that matter — then why not laundry and coffee? That, indeed, is the premise behind Wash & Coffee, a German enterprise from Henkel and Bosch-Siemens that blends laundromat and café to ease the pain of cleaning clothes.
A cozy lounge atmosphere welcomes visitors to Munich’s Wash & Coffee, where washing machines, dryers and detergents are on hand for self-service use. Professional laundry services are also available — including ironing — as are experts to dispense clothes-care advice. While clothes are getting clean, meanwhile, visitors can enjoy Wash & Coffee’s free wifi and entertainment events, as well as purchase a range of coffees, espresso drinks and snacks, including cakes, soups, bagels and salads. Combination specials, in fact, offer reduced pricing for those who purchase both laundry service and refreshments. The video below explains Wash & Coffee’s premise in more detail:
Wash & Coffee is reportedly on the verge of opening a second location later this week in Amsterdam. An idea ripe for exporting to your area?
Website: www.wash-coffee.com
Contact: info@wash-coffee.com

An apparent allergy to a dog or cat may really stem from other causes, according to one Sprouts employee.

You see the commercials all the time—how a certain over-the-counter or prescription drug will allow you to live allergy-free with cats, dogs, dust, pollen, whatever.
Since I live with two cats, one dog, a ton of dander, dust, animal hair and you name it, I was certain something out there would help my recurring ear infections and sinusitis.
Sure enough, my doctor prescribed everything from three separate antibiotic treatments to steroids, not to mention Singulair, Allergan, Pseudoephedrine, Fluticasone Propionate Nasal Spray and NeilMed Sinus Rinse—many all at the same time.
After six months, my right ear is still plugged, and I've suffered sufficient post nasal drip to sink a frigate.
Desperately seeking a new route, I decided to look into homeopathic remedies. Granted, I'm just at the beginning stages, so I'll have to get back to you with definitive results. But what I learned at a number of health food and nutrition stores made a lot of sense.
Mary McGee, 26, who holds forth in the vitamin department at the new Sprouts on Hawthorne Boulevard, shares my hypersensitivity to cats—at least she did. She also happened to be the most articulate when it came to explaining the genesis of such allergies and ways to address them.
Therein lay the problem. My allergy to cats and dogs may actually have little to do with cats and dogs, she said.
"A lot of times allergies to food [often dairy or gluten] lower the immune system, and you become allergic to pets, dust and other things as a result," McGee said. "If you knock out food, the other stuff goes away."
Although finding the true culprit may involve a food elimination diet for many (including me), McGee, who once suffered swollen eyes, nasal congestion, wheezing and rashes when anywhere near a cat, overcame the problem when she boosted her immune system via supplements, including probiotics and enzymes.
If you suspect an underlying food allergy, she said, the trick is to keep a food diary (where you write down what, when and where you eat), and then start cutting out the food types.
If it's dairy, then cheese and milk products are out; if it's gluten, say goodbye to pasta, bread and cereals for a period of weeks. Eggs, corn, soy, peanuts, food coloring, coffee and chocolate are other common allergens. For some lucky people, the foods can be added back after a period of avoidance, say six to 12 months.
Once the offending food is pinpointed and eliminated, "there should be a big difference in energy," McGee said. Joint pain, headache and fatigue will be gone.
Transferred from the Irvine Sprouts to the Redondo Beach branch when the store opened in May, McGee undergoes regular training by nutritionists and various supplement companies that offer seminars, she said. But her knowledge is clearly underscored by personal trial and error.
As she is six months pregnant with her first baby, she stays rigorously aware of what supplements she consumes: a prenatal multivitamin, Omega fish oil, B-complex and 5,000 units of D3. "Few people get enough D3," she said, a benefit of sunshine that stimulates the immune system and bone health. "It takes 12 hours for the D3 to penetrate the skin after being in the sun. Most people shower it off."
Just as important to McGee are probiotics. When it comes to differentiating among the endless shelves of products at Sprouts, McGee knows her way. Heading to a cooler, she selected Ultimate Flora Critical Care Probiotic by Renew Life ($31.95).
Probiotics keep a healthy amount of good bacteria in the gut and help with digestion, McGee said. They are said to control food allergies by aiding the intestinal tract in controlling the absorption of allergens and by changing immune-system responses to foods.
"When I first started taking [Ultimate Flora], I took it everyday," she said. "Each capsule contains 50 billion active cultures and 10 different strains of probiotics. Every strain works for something different; some work in small intestine, some in the large." She now takes it less often.
Along with keeping track of the expiration date, it is important to look for "delayed release," McGee said. "Otherwise your stomach can break it down before it gets to the intestines, where it needs to be."
There are numerous of other probiotics, including Bio-K Plus, a small yogurt-like liquid to be taken for six days every month. "That also has active cultures," McGee said, and is often prescribed in hospitals.
"Everyone has a certain amount of probiotics [bacteria] in their body," she said. But simply taking antibiotics can kill both good and bad bacteria "and that has to be replaced."
Another favorite topic of hers is digestive enzymes, which reduce allergy symptoms triggered by undigested food, particularly protein, McGee said. Enzymes help break down the protein into sizes too small to cause allergic reactions.
"If you feel bloated or have acid reflux, you probably don’t have enough enzymes to break down food," she explained. Enzymedica Digest Gold ($23.95) "is the best enzyme I've ever tried … and works fast, within 10 or 15 minutes." She takes two or three tablets after meals. "I carry it in my purse everywhere."
There are many other good enzyme products, McGee said, one made from pineapple, another from papaya. The point is that most allergies develop over time and are due to a breakdown of the immune system—not necessarily the fault of your beloved pet.
Good to know, but hard to swallow (pun intended). I was going to have a whale of a lot of work ahead, especially since I already suspected gluten as my major allergen culprit. (Since gluten is too complicated a subject to delve into here, I’ll get to that sorry regimen in a future column.)
So what to do in the meantime?
Over at Whole Foods on Pacific Coast Highway, Magdalena Storey, 26, advises customers on homeopathic substances that can help alleviate allergy symptoms from sneezing to sniffles.
One brand, bioAller, she said, offers a variety of homeopathic treatments aimed at specific allergens: one for animal dander and hair, for example, another for mold, yeast and dust, and yet another aimed at hay fever. It comes in liquid and tablet form and runs about $10.
Such homeopathic products can calm symptoms, and when "used over time" can alleviate symptoms altogether, Storey said.
She also recommends nettle, which comes in a liquid and dry herbal form. Most often brewed as a tea, nettle is a must for many allergy sufferers. Many swear by it for relieving hay fever, including Dr. Andrew Weil, who uses the herb himself.
Other herbs said to be effective include Angelica, also known as dong quai, which is popular in Chinese medicine for helping to clear nasal passages; licorice, which stimulates the adrenals and inhibits inflammation; Chinese Skullcap, which contains high levels of flavonoids (also known as bioflavonoids) and is good for sinus infections and for asthmatics, and chamomile, known for its anti-inflammatory and antihistamine properties.
Many of these are used in various homeopathic supplements.
There are homeopathic nasal sprays, such as Sinusin or Allercetin Allergy & Sinus, a homeopathic supplement in pill form.
Sprouts is located at 1515 Hawthorne Blvd. and Whole Foods is located at 405 North Pacific Coast Hwy. Additional health food stores include Nutrishop 219 Palos Verdes Blvd. and Blaine's Nutrition Center at 206 Avenue I.