Low-gluten host approved for Italian celiac patients - World - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

National Catholic Reporter, Jan 18, 2002 by Gill Donovan

ITALY: In a policy move that reflects differing medical opinion in Europe and the United States, Italy's bishops approved a low-gluten Eucharist host for sufferers of celiac disease.

The bishops' national liturgy office, backed by the scientific committee of the Italian Celiac Association, said the amount of gluten in hosts specially made by a German firm met church law requirements but would not provoke health problems in celiac patients.

The Italian decision differs from the policy of the bishops' conference of the United States, where doctors advocate that celiac sufferers adopt a gluten-free diet. The U.S. bishops' liturgy committee recommends that celiac sufferers receive Communion under the form of wine.

Celiac disease is a genetic disorder that causes inflammation of the intestines whenever a person eats food with gluten in it. Gluten is a protein found in flours made from barley, oats, rye and wheat.

The hosts approved by the Italian bishops are made using wheat starch and contain 0.0374 milligram of gluten, which the Italian Celiac Association said "can be consumed daily with absolute tranquility" by people with the disease.

The question was thrown into the spotlight in the United States early last year when the parents of a 5-year-old Boston girl with celiac disease left the Catholic church after their pastor would not allow them to substitute a rice wafer for the wheat host for her first Communion (NCR, Feb. 9).