Special Diet Foods

Primary care prescribing for special diet foods

The special diet foods sector contains prescribing intelligence on gluten free foods, low protein foods, and glucose liquids, powders and tablets. For information on nutritional supplements and specialist diet products to assist the dietary management of conditions such as Phenylketonuria (PKU), please see our nutrition sector.

The majority of scripts and spend in this sector relate to gluten free foods however prescribing in this sector is in decline as CCGs look to reduce costs. Following a consultation into the prescribing of gluten free foods, NHS England has published guidance to CCGs advising them no gluten free products should be prescribed to patients other than gluten free bread and gluten free mixes, and then only where a patient has been diagnosed as suffering from gluten related enteropathies.

The RxIndex below monitors the performance of the top prescribed gluten free bread brands.