The World Public Health Nutrition Association, World Obesity Federation, Consumers International, and health groups from around the globe are calling on Coca-Cola and PepsiCo to adopt and enforce a policy of not marketing sugar drinks to children aged 16 and under.

Organised by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, DC, the groups wrote to Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent and PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi. The letter was also sent to the companies’ major institutional investors for their consideration at Coca-Cola’s annual meeting on April 27 and PepsiCo’s meeting on May 4.

"Lower-income countries, in particular, will face steep and sometimes-unaffordable increases in the health-care costs associated with rising rates of type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and other soda-related health problems", the groups say.