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44 percent of American consumers report experimenting with some type of diet or eating approach in the past year.
11 percent of consumers who are experimenting with their diet have been going gluten-free in the past year, for a variety of reasons (more on that later).
10 percent have taken on vegetarian eating, 9 percent have focused on whole foods and 5 percent say they are paleo 4/ever (or at least the past year).
More than one-fourth of consumers (27 percent) reported purchasing gluten-free products in the past three months.
The majority of people—35 percent—tried gluten-free products because they “wanted to try something new.”
According to the report, “the desire to simply explore other ways of eating that may be healthier is particularly true of gluten-free purchasing.” Healthier eating (30 percent) and weight loss (23 percent) were the next most popular reasons to delve into a gluten-free diet.
9 percent of consumers are dabbling in juice cleanses/detox, another 9 percent are going with Weight Watchers and 6 percent are trying intermittent fasting, a method thought to make weight loss happen faster than overall reduction of calories.
21 percent are buying gluten-free products for someone else who is avoiding gluten.
14 percent of those who bought gluten-free food in the past month said they believe it tastes better.
Just 11 percent of those going gluten-free report a gluten sensitivity, and 6 percent say they are allergic to gluten.
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