Ever since the Heart Foundation started giving its tick of approval, a growing number of people have turned to the symbol for their healthy choices in the supermarkets.

Now the Australian Diabetes Council has released the ‘D tick’ to distinguish foods it approves.

Foods for the overweight, those suffering diabetes and coeliacs used to be relegated to health food shops. But in the past three years health foods with special nutritional benefits have exploded into the supermarkets, and literally millions of Australians are buying them every day.

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The health and organic food market is one of the fastest growing and most profitable areas of retail.

In the past few years shoppers’ increasing demands for healthy foods have revolutionised the aisles.

The industry has been driven by the 3.5 million diabetics, and the many millions more who suffer heart, coeliac and other chronic conditions, those allergic to gluten, yeast and dairy, as well as others, wanting to eat more healthily.

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Low GI, gluten, wheat and dairy-free, low salt, low sugar, low fat, low carbs, high fibre, organic - they're the fastest growing supermarket lines, increasing twenty per cent and more a year.

The gluten-free market alone has a global worth of $3 billion. Coles gluten-free range has expanded so much, it's become mainstream, with sales are going through the roof.

Gordon Duncan the General Manager of Woolworths Macro Brand said “The Macro range is now over 200 products, it's doing really well and we're able to bring that to more stores across Australia.”

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Woolworths bought the Macro Wholefoods chain almost three years ago, and now Macro gluten free, free range and organics are one of its most profitable categories. “We've seen 30 per cent year on year growth out of that range,” Duncan said.

“We have a great range of nuts, mainly unsalted. We've got a great range of the dried fruit, as well as the gluten free range - that's where we get into our dietary requirements. Then we move into things like the chia seed, shredded coconut, a lot of the polentas, and those types of things, and then the muesli range,” Gordon Duncan, General Manager of Woolworths Macro Brand explained.

When TV chef, Peter Howard was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes eight years ago, he couldn't find foods that kept his blood sugar levels under control. So he co-founded Made for You foods, devising ready-to-eat meals for 3.5 million Australians suffering from diabetes.

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“It's absolutely crucial that people with health problems like me actually do get foods that are nutritious, that do tick all those nutritional boxes,” Howard said.

“People with health problems like diabetics need to have food that is high in fibre. They need to have low fat, no sugar, preferably no salt, and they need to have low GI foods.

“Previously for people like myself, with diabetes, these foods were off limits - so pizza, curries, lasagna’s. But now we have designed this especially for Low GI, with two serves of vegetables, high in fibre, low in salt, and low in fat, and just lots and lots of flavor.”

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Dietitian Nicole Senior says low fat options are also multiplying. “There are a lot of healthy breads for people with diabetes, watching their blood sugar to choose from. Important things to look out for are low GI, and also wholegrains, because that has more nutrients and fibre.”

• Made for You - www.madeforyoufoods.com.au