epidemic'', co-ordinator of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital's diabetic centre warned yesterday.

And Mrs. Debbie Jones -- who was speaking to Hamilton Rotarians at their weekly luncheon at The Princess -- called for a study to find out the prevalence of diabetes in Bermuda.

Noting that diabetes is becoming an escalating financial burden on society, Mrs. Jones said in Bermuda "it costs $78,000 for one person to be on dialysis for a year and 42 percent of the people on dialysis are diabetics''.

She described diabetes as a disorder in which the body cannot process sugar properly. And Mrs. Jones said it was believed that about 28 percent of the Island's population were diabetics.

But without a study, she added, it would be difficult to know the extent of the disease in Bermuda and to pinpoint what strategies should be put in place to help.

What was known, Mrs. Jones said, was that a lifestyle of regular exercise and good nutrition reduced a person's chances of developing diabetes.

She said there are two types of diabetes in Bermuda.

Type one -- which referred to the body's inability to produce insulin -- affected 2.5 percent of diabetics.

But Mrs. Jones said it was type two which affected most diabetics, including those in Bermuda.

"Type two effects 90 percent of diabetics,'' she explained. "It is when the cells are unable to accept sugar and it is caused by overeating and a bad life style.'' And Mrs. Jones said it was type two that couch-potato Bermudians are most in danger from. She added that studies have proven a correlation between the number of hours spent idly watching television and the incidents of diabetes.

"The more hours of television people watch, the higher the rate of diabetes.''