Although it hasn't been documented yet, it's a generally accepted fact: watching "The Young And The Restless,'' a typical evening pastime in Bermuda, may be hazardous to your health.

It is not, of course, the popular American soap opera per se that may induce such diseases as diabetes, Mrs. Debbie Jones of King Edward VII Hospital's diabetic unit said this week, but the attending harmful co-factors that come with plopping yourself down in front of the television set every night at 6 p.m.: a lack of physical activity, eating fatty junk foods.

And while the recorded number of cases of Bermudians with diabetes hovers around 100, about a quarter of the population is thought to actually have the disease, reported Mrs. Jones, who added that the prevalence of diabetes (mainly in its "Type 2'' strain) is largely a result of lifestyle.

"Type 2 diabetes, which (unlike Type 1) has nothing to do with the pancreas' inability to produce insulin, is a direct result of the lives that people are leading as the world becomes more and more technologically-minded,'' said Mrs.

Jones, who claimed that Bermuda, like many of the Western nations, is facing an increase in diabetes cases of "epidemic'' proportions.

Added the hospital staffer: "It is much easier today for people to do nothing. When we look at how much walking a person does in a week, for example, it is only a fraction of the amount that people used to do as a matter of course. Before cars and buses and ferries, people used to rely a lot more on walking. That's no longer the case.'' Moreover, said Mrs. Jones, "very few people grow their own vegetables nowadays. They go instead for the fast food, which is frequently higher in fat.

"Also, they will come home after a long day of sitting in their offices and watch `The Young And The Restless,' then the news and then hours of TV after that. With all of these distractions, and inducements to sit around, they have to work harder at taking walks, at cooking healthily. This is where the problems rise.'' According to Mrs. Jones, who revealed to Taste on Wednesday that King Edward will undertake an epidemiology study of some 3,000 randomly selected Bermudians in the fall that is expected to uncover a widespread incidence of diabetes on the Island, the relationship between the Type 2 strain and lifestyle was first detected by doctors in native Americans, Africans and other Third World peoples.

For a period, Mrs. Jones told Taste, medical authorities subsequently thought that Type 2 diabetes was invariably limited to these groups, though they soon came to realise that the disease was "a worldwide problem, unconscious of age or racial barriers, and that's because people in general -- at least in the Western countries -- tend to eat too much, eat too much fat and not get all they exercise they need.

"In the vast majority of these (Type 2) cases,'' she added, "the pancreas (which produces the insulin that provides the blood cells with the sugar that they need) works fine. It's getting the insulin to the cells that's the problem here, and we think that overeating and a lack of exercise is the cause of that.'' But despite the high number of diabetics that Western culture has already produced -- not to mention the prospect of a fatter and more sedentary population as technological improvements speed up -- Mrs. Jones doesn't feel that people should despair (even if they do develop the disease).

"In Bermuda, the opportunities for research, education and especially prevention are overwhelming,'' she said, citing the Island's small size, close-knit sense of community and general media literacy. And, she pointed out, there are numerous lifestyle changes that both the unafflicted can make to fend off Type 2 and the those who have been diagnosed in the early stages of the disease can choose to control their sugar and fat levels.

"Raisin Bran, for example, is very high in sugar, and can be replaced with simple bran flakes,'' Mrs. Jones said by way of example. High-fat regular mayonnaise, moreover, can easily be replaced by the lower-fat variety, while a handful of snacking peanuts, which are very high in calories, can be supplanted by low-cal air-popped popcorn.

In terms of greater exercise, meanwhile, Bermudians need not "run the mile or go to the gym every day'' to increase their body's resilience, Mrs. Jones said, adding: "We're simply advocating that people incorporate more walking into their routines, be active, move. Just don't sit around like couch potatoes.'' To that end, she added, Government and especially the Health Ministry will have to take a stronger leadership role in promoting and assisting fitness, making such potentially gainful venues as the Railway Trail more user-friendly and ensuring that the current generation of schoolchildren leave their institutions with a firmer understanding of the importance of health and exercise.

And what, incidentally, of watching "The Young And The Restless''? "If you have to watch TV,'' Mrs. Jones said of the all-too-pervasive habit, "buy an exercise machine and work on it while you watch. You don't have to give up everything. Just find an acceptable alternative.''