Hello all, I have just gotten out of the hospital after being diagnosed with diabetes and I must count my carbs to know if I need insulin and how much. Now I know that the wafer is rather small but it is a grain which of course have lots of carbs. So how do I know how many carbs are in the wafer?
Thank You
God Bless
It should not be necessary to point out that, after consecration, the wafer does not actually contain things like gluten and carbohydrate, as it has become the Body (+ Blood, Soul, and Divinity) of Christ. Nevertheless, it is still capable of acting on the body in the same way as bread. Without knowing the manufacturer and the size of the Eucharistic wafers that are used in your parish, it is impossible to say. I’m sure that the information is available on the package, and that they will be happy to tell you in the sacristy if you ask. Estimates I have seen are that a typical Communion wafer would contain around 1/3 gram of carbohydrates and come in at about 1/2 to 1 calorie.
I am also diabetic and insulin dependent and I have had no trouble with the Eucharist it is such a small amount that I don’t believe that it is going to mess up your carb count. or you could just receive from the cup.you would still be getting the whole eucharist.
Can we assume that a typical communion wafer would be equivalent to a Ritz cracker?
This site shows that a serving of 5 Ritz crackers has 10 g of carbohydrates. That means one cracker would have 2 g.
So does it contain protein and fats?
Of course it contains gluten, that’s why gluten free hosts are available.
Then does it contain bread?
Are you saying the Host is carb free?
The accidents remain bread - yeast free, unleavened bread.
The substance is the real presence, body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ.
The Host only contains two ingredients when they are made. They contain only wheat flour and water.
It is not permitted to make Communion hosts for Catholic Mass out of anything except wheat flour and water (and, before anyone corrects me, in the Eastern churches also leavening). From the nutritional information I was able to find for standard white flour, it contains a negligible amount of fat (about one three hundredth part) and about one thirtieth part protein by weight. A typical mass-produced Communion wafer might weigh about a quarter of a gram (see here; if 1000 wafers is one half pound then one wafer weighs 0.2265 grams). Even if we assume that that weight is all flour, you can see that the amounts involved are very small – to consume 1 gram of protein would require eating some 120 wafers.
Of course it contains gluten, that’s why gluten free hosts are available.
We can talk this way about unconsecrated wafers, with the proviso that after consecration, when they become the Eucharist, they still continue to act upon the body as though they had the properties associated with bread. For instance, with Eucharistic wine, we cannot say that it contains alcohol, since theologically its substance has completely become the Blood (+ Body, Soul, and Divinity) of Christ. However, we know that a person who drinks too much can still become drunk. This is because the Eucharistic species continue to display what are called the “accidents” – i.e., the physical properties – of the bread and wine which they once were.
If you blow on an intoxilyzer on the side of the road after consuming some, the alcohol still registers. Believe me. I know. 
It registers as alcohol – that is one of the accidents of wine – but, metaphysically and theologically, it is not actually alcohol.
Not a subject about Catholic Tradition
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