Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
A NEW natural sweetener could help in the battle to reduce diabetes in the region, according to retailers and medics.
Stevia Extract in the Raw is a new zero calorie sweetening option, which derives from the leafy green foliage of the Stevia plant.
Known as the ‘sugar leaf’, the sweetener lives up to its name being some 300 to 400 times sweeter than cane sugar when refined.
Dr Faisal Al-Mahroos, pictured right, helps to educate patients in Bahrain, which suffers from one of the highest prevalence rates of diabetes in the world. More than 30 per cent of the kingdom’s population is affected by the illness.
Consultant diabetes physician Dr Al-Mahroos, 53, from Zinj said: “Diabetes is very common in the Gulf and unfortunately most sufferers manage it very poorly.”
He described white sugar as a ‘major danger’ and should be reduced as part of a healthy living change that includes increased exercise. Diabetes is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced.
With manufactures looking for a replacement for cane sugar and artificial sweeteners, Stevia is rising in popularity. As a result, it is more widely cultivated and used to reduce the overall sugar content in foods as well as beverages.
It is now available as a sugar alternative in local stores.
