Rifat Mohidin
SRINAGAR, Aug 19: To take care of the diabetic among their long queues of customers shopping for Eid, bakery shops in Kashmir have stocked extra varieties of sugar free snacks, juices and other things.
Of late, Kashmir has seen a sharp increase in the number of diabetic patients with a least 14 percent of the population suffering from various types of diabetes, doctors say. And local bakers and confectioners have started making special varieties of sugar free biscuits, cookies and cakes for them.
“From past several years there has been an increase of seven percent in diabetes patients. But people are now becoming more aware about the diseases and are taking precautions like consuming sugar free items,’’ valley’s prominent Endocrinologist, Dr Shariq Rashid Masoodi says.
Shahid Ahmad who owns a bakery shop in old Srinagar says the sale of these sugar-free biscuits and cakes were beyond his expectations.
“We have prepared various varieties of sugar free biscuits apart from regular kind of biscuits, cakes and pastries. And people are buying both, in large quantities,” Ahmed says.
Apart from locally-made bakery products, shopkeepers say they had sent more orders for such items to their suppliers from outside the state.
For families with diabetic members, this has solved all their problems.
“We have three diabetic patients in family and many other relatives. It has become important for us to keep and arrangement of sugar free foods for them. We used to bake sugar free cakes at home but now as these items are available in the market, it is easy for us to buy more and without much effort,” says Samina Akthar who lives in Dalgate.
Dr. Masoodi said that the awareness among diabetics about what to eat will definitely help them remain fit. “People consume a lot of bakery items and sweets on Eid, but the normal confectionery would make them suffer or they wouldn’t eat at all. With sugar-free varieties, they can eat whatever they want and remain healthy as well.”
