If you’ve been to a dinner party recently, then you know that planning a meal is becoming increasingly complex because of all the different dietary restrictions at the table.
This increase in food sensitivity could be due to a number of things. Our food and food production has changed significantly over the last century, which could be causing a lot of people to react to things they may not have had an issue with before.
Another potential factor is that trendy diets like gluten-free have increased awareness of food sensitivity, and made people examine symptoms that they may have brushed off before.
Either way, intolerances—generally defined as negative physiological reactions to certain foods—are on the rise.
These sensitivities are tricky to diagnose, since some people can tolerate a certain amount of food that affects them adversely in large quantities. The symptoms are also pretty vague. Fatigue, joint pains, dark circles under the eyes, night sweats, cramps, and gastrointestinal symptoms can all be attributed to food intolerance.
Differences between food intolerance and food allergy
Source: Technavio, 2015
Naturally, a huge industry has sprung up around food sensitivity. Technavio expects the global food intolerance products market to grow at a CAGR of 9.57% during the forecast period, to reach a total value of $17.45 billion by 2019.
The market is broadly segmented into lactose-free food, gluten-free food and diabetic food. And while we hear about the prevalence of the latter two more and more, it’s the lactose segment that dominates the market, with a share of 51.73%.
The reason lactose intolerance is so prevalent is that it has clear ties to genetics, specifically ethnicity.
The massive number of people who can’t digest milk products will continue to drive growth in the lactose-free food market, which is projected to grow by $3.78 billion from 2014 to 2019.
Percentage of global population with lactose intolerance 2014
Source: Technavio, 2015
The gluten-free segment will see growth of $1.32 billion over the same period. Despite reaching a lower value than the more well-established lactose-free market, the gluten-free segment is expected to experience a higher growth rate through 2019.
Global gluten-free food market 2014-2019 ($ billions)
Source: Technavio, 2015
