One of Bradford's oldest Asian bakeries is launching a range of foods for diabetics.

The Kashmir Crown Bakery, established more than 30 years ago, is currently formulating a sugar-free range of its cake rusks, cake slices and biscuits.

Asim Saleem, a partner in the business, said: "We launched the idea at the Ethnic Food Exhibition, which took place in Birmingham, and we are hoping that the products will retail at the end of August."

Mr Saleem said the aim of the range was to cater for members of the Asian community, many of whom suffered from diabetes and heart problems.

"We did our own research and found that there were a lot of Asian people in the community suffering from diabetes."

The company, which was created by Asim's father, Mohammed Saleem, is already building a cardiac hospital in Mirpur to provide free health care.

Mr Saleem said: "We cannot technically call the biscuits diabetic because they contain carbohydrates which turn into sugar but that is the same for any diabetic product."

Kashmir Crown Bakery, which has branches in Worthington Street and Lilycroft Road, is known for its cubes of Asian sweets, bags of savoury Bombay Mix and the cake rusks which are supplied around the world and go as far afield as Norway, Spain, Canada, South Africa and America.

"Basically there is a big demand for the cake rusks and biscuits wherever there are ethnic communities."

But Mr Saleem pledged that the new products would not be that much more expensive than standard counterparts.

"We know that Asian families tend to be large and have a budget. Though diabetic foods are traditionally more expensive, we would still try to keep the cost as low as possible for the customers."

The company is also formulating a gluten-free range for people with more restricted diets.

Meanwhile the business is concentrating on completing the cardiac hospital which will treat up to 100 patients with heart related complaints.

Johanne Jordan, diabetes dietician for Bradford Health Authority, said she welcomed the plans.

"We are glad that this bakery are taking an interest in healthy eating.

"It will be interesting to know more about the products available."