ARE PATIENTS WITH COELIAC DISEASE SOCIALLY RESTRICTED BY A GLUTEN FREE DIET?

For patients with coeliac disease (CD), compliance with a gluten free diet (GFD), when eating outside the home, may be difficult. This may depend on chefs' knowledge of GFD. Eating food not prepared at home may inadvertently expose patients to gluten. A GFD may also cause social restrictions and thus impair quality of life. Chefs know less about CD and peanut allergy than the general public. Non-qualified and take-away chefs appear to have particularly limited knowledge. Patients with CD feel justifiably cautious when eating food not prepared at home, and do so less frequently than the general public. Educating chefs about a GFD may alleviate the social restrictions on CD patients.