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Food Allergy Website Helps Sufferers Save Money

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Dec 25, 2008 7:45 pm US/Eastern

Food Allergy Website Helps Sufferers Save Money

Link: BeFreeForMe.com

(KDKA) The numbers are staggering, about 12 million Americans now have some type of food allergy and many of those can be deadly.

That can make going to the grocery store a confusing and costly trip. But now, a Pennsylvania entrepreneur wants to make that easier and cheaper.

With so many processed foods on the shelf now, it's hard to keep track of just what ingredients are in each product. For example, both soy sauce and red licorice often contain wheat.

That would be a problem for someone like Kathleen Reale. She has Celiac disease and can't eat anything with gluten, a protein found in wheat and other grains.

"It's very confusing," said Reale. "I mean, when I first found out that I was diagnosed with celiac disease, I walked around the supermarket kind of in a fog, saying I can't eat this, I cant eat that."

So Reale has now created the website, BeFreeForMe.com. Its goal is to not only educate consumers about which foods they can safely eat, but to also save them money.

"I am going to have a coupon book that goes out four times a year direct to people's real mail boxes to offer them savings and coupon codes and ways to save money on a restricted diet," she said.

It's a big help in tight times because specialty foods can often cost two to three times more than their traditional counterpart.

"It seems like they will charge more money because you have no choice to buy the product," says Reale.

It can be like walking through a mine field, but Reale says she hopes her website can make things a little easier for families.

"It's a life-altering change when you get diagnosed with a special dietary requirement, and I think that the coupons are going to help you as well as the sharing," she adds.

Reale says this approach to helping people with food allergies save on costs is a first of its kind. The coupon book is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2009. 



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