America’s beverage companies are constantly looking for ways to be an industry leader in public health with our efforts to reduce obesity.

Just last year the American Beverage Association along with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a nonprofit group that empowers kids to develop lifelong healthy habits, launched our Balance Calories Initiative that set a goal to reduce beverage calories consumed per person nationally by 20 percent by 2025. To do so, Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper Snapple Group and PepsiCo will leverage their marketing and innovation strengths to increase interest in smaller portion sizes, lower- and no-calorie beverages and water.

We are also increasing our efforts to provide more options and information in certain communities where the availability and demand for no- and low-calorie beverages falls below the national average. Communities within Los Angeles, Little Rock, Ark., and New York City will be the first see these changes firsthand. In these communities our member companies will promote water and no- and lower-calorie beverage consumption as well as explore other strategies such as merchandising, product placement and couponing to drive interest in and improve access to these choices.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio thanked the beverage companies via a spokesman for bringing this public health initiative to his city: "Our communities are suffering the adverse health effects of highly caloric and non-nutritious diets, and we welcome all initiatives that will help improve the health of New Yorkers.  We thank the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and the beverage companies for including New York City in this effort, and we look forward to seeing the results of this campaign."

And as we learn from the work we are doing in these communities we will expand our efforts into other cities nationwide to help people achieve balance in their lives.

To learn more about how the beverage industry is delivering, visit DeliveringChoices.com.