Gluten-Free Living endorses nuns' low-gluten Communion hosts

Published: 2004-08-30

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A magazine devoted to people with celiac disease has endorsed a low-gluten Communion host made by Catholic nuns in Missouri as "perfectly safe" for celiac sufferers. The quarterly magazine, Gluten-Free Living, came out shortly before a public controversy emerged over a New Jersey mother's fight to change the Catholic rules for such hosts. The church requires bread made from wheat, containing at least some gluten, for the celebration of the Eucharist. Gluten is a protein in wheat, rye, barley and oats that binds the baked bread. In people who have the genetic disorder known as celiac disease or celiac sprue, gluten causes an immune reaction that can lead to severe damage of the intestinal lining and a number of other health problems ranging from chronic diarrhea and anemia to osteoporosis. In the magazine, a nun-pharmacist wrote that she analyzed the low-gluten hosts produced by the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde, Mo. Her conclusion: "On average, a whole host could contain no more than 37 micrograms of gluten."

Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .