ATLANTA (Reuters) - Soft drink giant Coca-Cola Co., accused in recent years of helping to fuel rising childhood obesity in the United States, unveiled on Tuesday a campaign designed to make adolescents more physically fit.

The world's No. 1 soft drink company said the campaign, dubbed "Step With It," would challenge about 50,000 middle school students across the nation to incorporate physical activity into their lives during the coming school year.

Developed in partnership with the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, a nonprofit group representing fitness professionals, the program encourages kids to take a minimum of 10,000 steps a day to maintain good health.

Those who participate will be given a special device to track the number of steps taken, Coca-Cola said. The program will be introduced in schools in Atlanta, Charlotte, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Seattle and Washington, DC.

"Coca-Cola has worked all over America for years to develop relationships that help schools meet critical needs," said Jeff Dunn, president and chief operating officer of Coca-Cola's North American division.

"One critical need in education today is more resources to get kids active and keep them physically fit," Dunn said.

Coca-Cola's pledge to help students become healthier comes slightly more than a year after the company agreed to start selling water, juices and other nutritional drinks in school vending machines and cafeterias.

Health experts had lambasted the soft drink maker and its rivals for aggressively marketing its sugar-laced soft drinks in schools and contributing to a rising number of diabetes diagnoses and other health problems in US children.

A report released by the US Surgeon General late in 2001 found that twice as many children and three times as many adolescents were overweight compared to 1980. Last month, US President Bush urged all Americans to get more exercise and eat less junk food.

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