Gluten-free bread, pasta and flour cost clearly more than the regular versions: Coeliac UK found gluten-free loaves 4.5 times the price gram for gram (March 2022 to March 2024), and the Spanish coeliac federation FACE puts the extra cost at €996.37 a year per person (price report 2026). The extra cost sits in those substitutes, so the budget route is fewer substitutes and more meals built on foods that are gluten-free anyway, with the unit price on the shelf label to compare packs. Help from the state depends on your country, and according to AIC (as of 20 July 2026) Italy’s monthly buono works only in the region where you live (plus a Lombardy and Liguria pilot that started that day), not abroad.
How we checked
Checked on 17.10.2026. We read every source below ourselves on that date: the price comparisons from Coeliac UK, FACE and AIC, two peer-reviewed studies, the Italian budget law and the AIC notes on the buono, the German, EU and UK rules on showing prices, the German disability and tax rules and the Spanish VAT ruling. Each figure names its source and the period it measured. Prices move, so read every number as a snapshot with a date on it.
Why does gluten-free food cost more?
Gluten-free substitutes cost more to make, and the coeliac societies of Spain and Italy give much the same reasons: raw materials that cost more and must be guaranteed gluten-free, strict controls against cross-contact, special production steps and research to replace what gluten does in a dough. AIC adds that the market is small: in Italy it serves only 1 to 2% of the population, which rules out the economies of scale of regular food. FACE also writes that some companies use the growing demand to raise prices as a market position.
The gap comes from the specific products. FACE builds its yearly price report on gluten-free bread, pasta, bread flours, breadcrumbs and similar staples because, FACE says, those products cause the difference in cost between a diet with and without gluten.
Sources: FACE, Informe de precios 2026 (PDF); FACE, news page on the 2026 report (26.02.2026); AIC, press release on gluten-free prices and VAT (September 2025); AIC, Assistenza alla dieta (FAQ last updated 17.12.2019). All read 17.10.2026.
How much more does gluten-free food cost, country by country?
Every comparison we read finds gluten-free substitutes cost a multiple of the regular version, but each one measures something different (other products, other years, other methods), so compare the direction rather than the exact figures across countries.
| Country | What was measured | Result |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Coeliac UK, average price gram for gram in major supermarkets, March 2022 to March 2024 | Bread loaves 4.5 times, bread rolls 3.1 times, cereals 2.1 times, plain flour and pasta 2.0 times, crackers 1.7 times the regular price. The cheapest gluten-free loaf costs more than six times the cheapest regular one. A weekly shop for a gluten-free diet can cost up to 35% more. |
| United Kingdom | Fry and colleagues, 679 gluten-free and 1,045 regular foods from manufacturer and supermarket websites, price per 100 g (published 2018) | Gluten-free products 159% more expensive on average: £1.14 against £0.44 per 100 g. |
| Spain | FACE, 21 types of product from specialist brands to supermarket own brands, prices tracked through 2025 and early 2026 | €27.09 per 100 g gluten-free against €11.88 with gluten. Extra cost per person: €20.76 a week, €83.03 a month, €996.37 a year. |
| Italy | AIC, Nielsen price data (September 2025) | Gluten-free bread and pasta about three times the price of the regular versions, flour mixes almost five times. Since 2016, gluten-free bread is up 11% in supermarkets and pasta 32% in pharmacies. |
| United States | Lee and colleagues, a basket of regular and gluten-free products, price per ounce, four types of shop in five regions (published 2019) | Gluten-free products 183% more expensive overall. Gluten-free versions from mass-market brands cost 139% more than the wheat version of the same product. Down from 240% in the 2006 study it compares with (adjusted for inflation). |
Coeliac UK’s 2024 survey also shows what the price does: almost 8 in 10 people struggled to afford gluten-free products, 4% said they eat gluten because of the cost, and 27% eat products with “may contain” statements for the same reason. If money is pushing you towards eating gluten, talk to your doctor or dietitian first. With “may contain” products the advice depends on where you live: in the UK, Coeliac UK advises not eating them if they have no gluten-free claim and the line names a cereal containing gluten, and in Canada, Celiac Canada recommends avoiding products with a “May Contain” statement for barley, rye, regular oats, wheat or triticale; in the EU, a “may contain” line is voluntary and not an ingredient, so the ingredient list and a gluten-free claim decide.
Sources: Coeliac UK, The Gluten Free Diet: What does it cost and why does it matter? 2024 Update (news page); Fry L, Madden AM, Fallaize R. J Hum Nutr Diet 2018;31(1):108-120 (PubMed abstract); FACE, Informe de precios 2026 and news page; AIC, September 2025; Lee AR et al. Nutrients 2019;11(2):399 (PubMed abstract). All read 17.10.2026.
How can I eat gluten-free on a budget?
Buy fewer substitutes and build more meals on food that is gluten-free anyway, because the extra cost sits in the substitutes. These steps come from the sources above and from the price rules that apply where you shop:
- Start from naturally gluten-free food. Coeliac UK lists meat, fish, fruit and vegetables, and names potatoes, rice and lentils as foods to base meals on. Processed foods such as sauces, stock cubes, ready meals, sausages and frozen chips still need a label check.
- Compare the unit price. EU rules require the unit price, for example per kilo, next to the selling price, with some exceptions (Directive 98/6/EC, Article 3); in Germany it is called the Grundpreis (PAngV § 4). In the UK the Price Marking Order 2004 (Article 5) requires a unit price for most packed food, with exceptions for some products in small shops. The unit price lets you compare packs of different sizes.
- Look at the supermarket ranges. FACE links part of the slight narrowing of the price gap in Spain to more competition and the rise of supermarket own brands, and in the US study gluten-free versions from mass-market brands carried a smaller extra cost (139%) than the average across all products (183%). Our supermarket guides list chains, own gluten-free brands and labelled products for Germany, Italy and the UK, and the guide to supermarket shopping abroad collects the rest.
- Keep reading the label. A cheaper product still has to say gluten-free: in the EU that claim means no more than 20 mg of gluten per kg (Regulation (EU) No 828/2014).
- In Italy, check where your buono goes furthest. AIC says the buono can be spent in pharmacies, specialist shops and, in several regions, in contracted supermarkets, and that the mainly pharmacy-based sales channel shows the biggest price differences.
- Claim the help you are entitled to. The next section shows what exists, country by country.
Sources: Coeliac UK, Back to basics; Directive 98/6/EC, EUR-Lex; § 4 PAngV, gesetze-im-internet.de; Price Marking Order 2004, Article 5, legislation.gov.uk; FACE, Informe de precios 2026; Lee AR et al. 2019; Regulation (EU) No 828/2014, EUR-Lex; AIC, Assistenza alla dieta. All read 17.10.2026.
What help can I get with the cost in my country?
Help with the cost depends entirely on the country you live in. Italy gives a monthly buono with ceilings of €56 to €124 a month by age and sex (Decree of 10 August 2018). The UK gives gluten-free staples on prescription, in England limited to bread and flour mixes and varying by area. Germany has no general tax relief for the diet but grants a Mehrbedarf to people on Bürgergeld or social assistance, and in the US only medical expenses above 7.5% of adjusted gross income can be deducted, and only if you itemise. Our page on coeliac rights by country covers all of this with sources. Below are three things that page does not cover.
Sources: AIC, Assistenza alla dieta (ceilings table of the Decree of 10 August 2018); Coeliac UK, prescriptions; § 21 SGB II and § 30 SGB XII, gesetze-im-internet.de; IRS Publication 502. All read 17.10.2026.
Germany: the disability degree (GdB) and the tax allowance
Germany’s medical assessment rules give coeliac disease without significant complications, on a gluten-free diet, a reference value of GdB 20 (Versorgungsmedizin-Verordnung, Annex, Part B). These are reference values: if the gluten-free diet keeps working poorly, the rules allow higher values. With a recognised GdB of at least 20 you can claim a flat disability allowance of €384 in your income tax return (§ 33b EStG); the law describes it as covering costs of help with everyday tasks, care and extra laundry, claimed instead of itemising those costs. The extra cost of the diet itself is not deductible as an extraordinary expense (Bundesfinanzhof, VI R 48/18).
Sources: Versorgungsmedizin-Verordnung, Annex, gesetze-im-internet.de; § 33b EStG, gesetze-im-internet.de; Bundesfinanzhof, decision of 04.11.2021, VI R 48/18. All read 17.10.2026.
Spain: lower VAT on gluten-free bread
Under a resolution of the Spanish tax directorate (Dirección General de Tributos) of 24 February 2025, published in the BOE on 27 February 2025, all bread, including bread made with gluten-free flour, is taxed at the super-reduced VAT rate of 4%. FACE notes that prices of the basic gluten-free products are still high despite the cut from 10% to 4%. A national income-tax deduction of up to €600 has been proposed, but FACE’s 2026 report could not count it yet: it has no confirmed start date and no defined criteria.
Sources: BOE-A-2025-3950, Resolución de 24 de febrero de 2025; FACE, Informe de precios 2026 and news page. All read 17.10.2026.
Italy: no tax deduction for food
In Italy, gluten-free food cannot be deducted in your tax return, AIC says, even when it is bought in a pharmacy or prescribed by a doctor; only medicines are deductible. The buono is the help.
Source: AIC, Assistenza alla dieta (FAQ last updated 17.12.2019), read 17.10.2026.
Can I use the Italian buono outside my region or abroad?
Not yet across all of Italy, and not abroad: today you spend the buono in the province or region where you live, with one exception, a pilot between Lombardy and Liguria that started on 20 July 2026. Three layers decide what you can do.
What applies now
Your local health authority (ASL) issues the buono, and you spend it in the province or region of your residence under that region’s rules (AIC). Even inside one region this can go wrong: on 23 January 2026 the health department of Calabria wrote to its provincial health authorities that, according to reports from AIC Calabria, some contracted shops and pharmacies were refusing buoni issued in another Calabrian province, and reminded them that those buoni must be reimbursed. Outside the pilot below, AIC Lombardy describes what people have had to do when they leave their region: travel with their own supplies, plan all purchases in advance, or give up the month’s budget.
The regional pilot: Lombardy and Liguria
Since Monday 20 July 2026, people with coeliac disease living in Lombardy or Liguria can use their monthly budget in the other region, at pharmacies, parafarmacie and contracted shops connected to the system. AIC counts about 60,000 people in the two regions (52,013 in Lombardy and 6,785 in Liguria, from the 2024 report to Parliament).
The national rule: written into law, waiting for its decree
The 2026 budget law (Law 199/2025, paragraphs 381 to 384) sets up a digital buono on the Tessera Sanitaria system, with a personal code valid across all of Italy. You would use it in pharmacies, parafarmacie, specialist gluten-free shops and supermarkets; each region signs agreements with supermarkets and specialist shops and publishes the list, updated every six months. The details are left to a decree of the Health Minister with the Economy Minister, due within 90 days of the law entering into force. In its latest note we read, of 20 July 2026, AIC wrote that it had sent the Ministry of Health its contribution for that decree and that national circularity remains the goal. Until the decree is in force and your region is connected, plan to use the buono at home.
Abroad
The buono does not work outside Italy. AIC says buoni are issued only in Italy, there are no agreements with other countries, and if you move your residence abroad you lose the entitlement, even if you register with AIRE. The new law, too, speaks of a code valid across the national territory, meaning Italy.
Sources: AIC, Assistenza alla dieta (FAQ last updated 17.12.2019); Regione Calabria, note prot. 57412 of 23.01.2026 (PDF on the AIC Calabria site); AIC Lombardia, press note of 21.07.2026; AIC, press note of 20.07.2026; Law 30 December 2025, n. 199, paragraphs 381 to 384 (copy of the Gazzetta Ufficiale extract, not the official page); AIC Lombardia, statement of 22.10.2025. All read 17.10.2026.
Does the buono push gluten-free prices up in Italy?
AIC, the Italian coeliac society, says no: in its view the buono exists because gluten-free products already cost more, and high prices are found in almost every European country, not only in Italy. AIC also points to the other side: the current ceilings were calculated on 2016 prices and have not changed since, so as prices rise the buono buys less. Many gluten-free products carry 10% VAT, against 4% for basic foods such as bread and pasta, and AIC has asked for 0%, which it estimates would save a coeliac about €100 a year.
Sources: AIC, Assistenza alla dieta (FAQ last updated 17.12.2019); AIC, press release of September 2025. Both read 17.10.2026.
Is a gluten-free surcharge in a restaurant fair, or even legal?
In Germany the price rules are about showing the price, not about how high it is: menu prices must already include every surcharge, and the price list has to be on the table, on display or handed to you before you order (PAngV § 13). A restaurant there also has to show the prices of its main dishes and drinks next to the entrance. We have not covered the rules of other countries here yet.
Whether a surcharge is fair is your call. It helps to ask what it is for: a dish made with gluten-free pasta, bread or flour uses ingredients that cost about two to five times as much in the shop on average (see the table above), while a dish that is gluten-free by its recipe uses none of them. Ask about the price before you order, at the same moment you ask how the dish is prepared.
Source: § 13 PAngV, gesetze-im-internet.de, read 17.10.2026.
Help with costs, by country
Prescriptions, vouchers and tax relief differ by country; each country page says what exists there.
FAQ
Why is gluten-free food so expensive?
Gluten-free substitutes need raw materials guaranteed free of gluten, strict controls against cross-contamination, adapted production and research, and they sell in a small market, according to the coeliac societies of Spain (FACE) and Italy (AIC).
How much more does gluten-free food cost?
Coeliac UK found gluten-free loaves 4.5 times the price of regular ones gram for gram (March 2022 to March 2024), and FACE puts the extra cost in Spain at €996.37 a year per person (price report 2026).
Can I use my Italian buono in another region or abroad?
Only between Lombardy and Liguria, in a pilot running since 20 July 2026. Law 199/2025 plans a digital buono valid across Italy, but its decree was still awaited in AIC’s note of 20 July 2026, and AIC says the buono cannot be used abroad.
Is a gluten-free surcharge in a restaurant legal?
In Germany, menu prices must include every surcharge and be shown before you order (PAngV § 13); the rule is about showing the price, not its size.
Can I deduct gluten-free food from my taxes?
In Germany the extra cost of the diet is not deductible (Bundesfinanzhof, VI R 48/18), but a recognised GdB of at least 20 brings a flat allowance of €384 (§ 33b EStG). In Italy food is not deductible, AIC says. In the US only medical expenses above 7.5% of adjusted gross income count, and only if you itemise.
How can I eat gluten-free on a budget?
Build meals on naturally gluten-free food such as potatoes, rice and lentils, compare the unit price on the shelf label, look at the supermarkets’ own gluten-free lines and claim the help your country offers.
Keep reading
- Coeliac rights by country: buono, prescriptions, tax and Mehrbedarf in 5 countries
- Gluten-free supermarket shopping abroad: where to look and how to read the pack
- Gluten-free supermarkets in Italy: 10 chains, own brands and 53 labelled products
- Learn: all our guides to coeliac disease
Sources, all read on 17.10.2026: Coeliac UK (cost report 2024 update, Back to basics, prescriptions); Fry et al. 2018 and Lee et al. 2019 (PubMed); FACE price report 2026 and news page; AIC (Assistenza alla dieta, press releases of September 2025 and 20.07.2026); AIC Lombardia (21.07.2026, 22.10.2025); Regione Calabria (23.01.2026); Law 199/2025 (copy of the Gazzetta Ufficiale extract); Decree of 10 August 2018; BOE-A-2025-3950; Directive 98/6/EC; Regulation (EU) No 828/2014; PAngV §§ 4 and 13; Price Marking Order 2004; Versorgungsmedizin-Verordnung; § 33b EStG; Bundesfinanzhof VI R 48/18; § 21 SGB II; § 30 SGB XII; IRS Publication 502. Every figure is a snapshot: check amounts and rules with the office in charge before you apply. This page does not replace medical advice; talk to your doctor or dietitian about your diet.
Reviewed by How to Gluten Free, a coeliac household, not clinicians.