Coca-Cola has moved to head off concerns that sugary drinks are contributing to an obesity epidemic by adopting clearer calorie-count labels, promoting diet soft drinks and renewing a pledge not to market to children under 12.

The policy, announced yesterday, comes as the world’s largest beverage company and its rivals draw fire from health experts and lawmakers, in the US and elsewhere, over the high calorie content of their flagship products.

“They need to take this head-on given all the pressure they’re facing, certainly from a regulatory perspective and without a doubt from the consumer perspective,” said Ali Dibadj, analyst at Bernstein, an investment group.

He added that overall soda sales had fallen in the US as consumers, worried about health issues, “self-regulated” their consumption.

As a result, beverage companies are expanding in emerging markets to win new business.

Analysts said Coke and its rivals were concerned about a crackdown around the world.

“They’re trying to get ahead of it,” Mr Dibadj said. “If they get painted with this bad-guy brush, I’m not convinced they have the support of the local communities and the local governments that they really need for all the local distribution, manufacturing and buy-in to grow.”

The soft drinks industry won a skirmish this year, when a judge struck down New York City’s attempt to ban “super-sized” sweetened drinks. Efforts in other parts of the US to tax fizzy drinks have failed.

Coke said it would also encourage consumers to adopt more active lifestyles and apply all the measures in the 200 countries where it operates. The company has tried to take a lead in the war on obesity, running ads that encourage consumers to burn more calories and highlighting its low-calorie and no-calorie drinks.

“There is a place for all of our beverages in a healthy lifestyle,” said Muhtar Kent, chief executive. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013)