claims disease educator Debbie Jones.

She said she believed obesity rates on the Island now mirror the US figure of one in three and fatness was a big factor in the rise of the disease.

Ms Jones, who is the Diabetes Centre Director, said diabetes was already at epidemic scale and the Island could see sufferers double to 14,000 adults ---which would be around 22 percent of the population if current trends continue.

She admitted there were no statistics saying a third of Bermudians were now obese, but observation was enough.

She added: "Why do a study to find out what you already know?'' Ms Jones said this escalation would strain the health care dollar and said unhealthy eating and lack of exercise, which increased the risk of diabetes, also had a big impact on other areas of society.

She called for a national effort to encourage healthy living to combat the disease which affected one in nine Bermudians.

She said: "The community should get involved. If people were more healthy, then it would have a bigger impact on drug use and teen pregnancies.

"If people felt good about themselves, they would be less inclined to take drugs and if girls felt better about themselves, they would be less inclined to get pregnant and give up their lives.'' She cited junk food and sedentary, solitary lives based round the TV and a home computer as the twin enemies of healthy living.

She said: "Some people never eat vegetables apart from on a Sunday.'' And she said turning Japanese could help battle a disease which was the leading cause of non-accident related amputations.

"We could have office exercise breaks like in Japan where productivity goes up because people aren't falling asleep in the afternoon,'' Ms Jones suggested.

Radical changes in health insurance could also make healthy living more attractive to the naturally slothful.

"If you have someone who only visits the doctor for physicals and preventative medicine, then maybe we could reduce the amount of health insurance they pay,'' Ms Jones added. And she was appalled the health eating message had not made it through to the hospital where her centre is based.

She said: "In the hospital cafe they're selling deep fried chicken and French fries -- you name it.'' Health Minister Nelson Bascome was off the Island yesterday.

But Jacqui Neath-Myrie, who is the Diabetes Prevention Program Coordinator for the Diabetes Association, said around 50 percent of adult sufferers did not know they had diabetes type two, where people suffer from inefficient insulin production, because there were few overt symptoms.

Yet sufferers were two or three times more likely than others to suffer a heart attack or stroke.

Warning over diabetes She said: "In the US there's a burgeoning epidemic of type two diabetes in teens and we are trying to avoid that situation in Bermuda.

"Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in adults. And most people having dialysis have diabetes.'' The organisation is also campaigning in schools to get the healthy message across. But Ms Neath-Myrie said it was important parents did their bit to provide a positive model so the message did not get lost at the school yard gate.

There will be free blood sugar testing at St. Paul's AME Church in Court Street organised by the Diabetes Association on Wednesday at 7.45 p.m. It will be followed by a public talk by visiting US diabetes expert Dr. Tom Flood.