Coca-cola funds scientists who shifts obesity blame away from soda and bad diets

Coca-Cola, the world’s largest producer of sugary beverages, is backing a new “science-based” solution to the obesity crisis: To maintain a healthy weight, get more exercise and worry less about cutting calories, The New York Times reports. The newly formed non-profit organization aims to develop solutions to prevent and reduce diseases associated with poor nutrition and obesity.
The Global Energy Balance Network (GEBN) is an international organization led by reputable scientists of public health based in universities across the world. The research focus of the group is energy balance - a state of equilibrium between calories consumed and calories burned through physical activity.
The beverage giant has teamed up with these influential scientists who are advancing this message in medical journals, at conferences and through social media. To help the scientists get the word out, Coke has reportedly provided financial and logistical support.
 “Most of the focus in the popular media and in the scientific press is, 'Oh they’re eating too much, eating too much, eating too much’ - blaming fast food, blaming sugary drinks and so on,” the group’s vice president, Steven N. Blair, an exercise scientist, says in a recent video announcing the new organization. “And there’s really virtually no compelling evidence that that, in fact, is the cause.”
Health experts say this message is misleading and part of an effort by Coke to deflect criticism about the role sugary drinks have played in the spread of obesity and Type 2 diabetes. They contend that the company is using the new group to convince the public that physical activity can offset a bad diet despite evidence that exercise has only minimal impact on weight compared with what people consume.
Many people also who have seen this statement suggesting that there is no compelling evidence that sugary drinks cause obesity and seen that the research group is funded by Coca-Cola and thought that something is amiss.

This clash over the science of obesity comes in a period of rising efforts to tax sugary drinks, remove them from schools and stop companies from marketing them to children. In the last two decades, consumption of full-calorie sodas by the average American has dropped by 25 percent.
“Coca-Cola’s sales are slipping, and there’s this huge political and public backlash against soda, with every major city trying to do something to curb consumption,” said Michele Simon, a public health lawyer. “This is a direct response to the ways that the company is losing. They’re desperate to stop the bleeding.”