Tougher issues than smoking

The WEF will host a private meeting on "healthy living" on Saturday of key players including executives from the food, healthcare and agriculture sectors as well as health regulators and ministers, seeking to get agreement on concrete action.

"To solve the issue of tobacco, we excluded tobacco companies. But excluding food and beverage, pharmaceuticals would be a big mistake," said the WEF's Raynard.

"The second mistake would be to only blame. The third mistake would be to be too simplistic, just focusing on reducing sugar, for example."

The British government announced this week that more food and drink companies have signed up to a voluntary pledge to cut the amount of sugar and calories in their products.

That is the kind of approach favoured by Nestle's Bulcke, who rejects tighter regulation: "It's not education alone, it's not diet alone. It's all that, plus healthy physical activity."

Alison Martin, a health specialist at insurer Swiss Re who is due to address a discussion on obesity with Bulcke on Saturday, said trying to fight the problem with the same kind of taxes or bans imposed on tobacco would not work.

"There is nothing inherently wrong with eating a hamburger or drinking a can of Coke as part of a balanced diet, so it's unlike smoking," she said. "That leads it to being a more difficult, thorny issue, which is clearly why we haven't been successful in tackling it to date."

Instead of focusing on counting calories, insurers like Swiss Re are developing policies aimed at encouraging healthier living by offering lower premiums, for example if clients promise to go to the gym or buy fruit and vegetables.

Khalid Al Falih, head of Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil producer, said the productivity of companies was already being undermined by the poor health of some employees.

"This situation is of special concern to us because we live in a region that has one of the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in the world," he said as the WEF published new data supporting the case for more investment in workplace health.

Four out of five diabetics now live in low and middle-income countries, and global sales of diabetes medicines are expected to reach $48-$53 billion by 2016, up from $39.2 billion in 2011, according to research firm IMS Health.