Mumbai: With a growing number of diabetics, and a burgeoning population of obese urban dwellers, the ice-cream industry in India is indeed worried about the ''melting'' market for its products.

According to the World Health organisation, of 1.5 billion overweight adults globally, 400 million live in India. The figure is expected to double over the next eight years. India is also the diabetes capital of the world, with 37 million diabetics.

But leading producer of milk and indigenous dairy products, including ice cream, Amul, has decided to take on the ''battle of the bulge'' by introducing a new range of ''sugar-free'' and ''probiotic'' products for diabetics, the obese and the health conscious.

For many diabetics, consuming ice-cream remains a tempting longing. Amul wants to make it a reality with the launch of its specially created sugar-free, low fat diabetic delight. In Amul Sugarfree Probiotic Diabetic Delight Frozen Dessert, sugar has been replaced with zero calorie and low calorie sweeteners.

Amul Sugarfree Probiotic Diabetic Delight contains 50 per cent less fat and half of the calorie than normal ice cream. It has also been supplemented with pro-biotic cultures for health improvement.

Fructo-oligo saccharides are soluble dietary fibre that improve the mineral absorption and bone health in addition to increasing the disease fighting ability of the body.

Digestive enzymes sparingly digest these sweeteners in stomach or small intestines and therefore do not cause fluctuations in blood sugar levels unlike in a diabetic condition where intake of digestible sugar causes fluctuation in the blood sugar level, says the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, India''s largest food products marketing firm, which owns the Amul brand. The federation is the apex body of 2.9 million milk producers of Gujarat.

Amul has also launched a probiotic ice cream - Amul ProLife Probiotic Wellness Ice Cream. Probiotics are live beneficial culture which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a beneficial health effect on the host.

They help in digestion, improve the immune system,fight against allergic reactions and are effective in controlling travellers'' diarrhoea, claims the federation.

Probiotics also help in the prevention of formation and growth of colon cancer and enhances brain activity.