Coca-Cola’s funding for a health advocacy nonprofit that stressed the importance of exercise over diet control in weight loss has backfired into a major PR disaster for the beverage company. Critics say the study’s findings push the message that so long as consumers exercise, they need not worry too much about cutting calories in what they consume — presumably including sugar-packed sodas. The controversy highlights the need for increased transparency in the conduct of such studies and the role of researchers, say experts. Coca-Cola provided financial and logistics support for Global Energy Balance Network, a new nonprofit organization whose website gebn.org is registered to Coca-Cola’s headquarters in Atlanta, according to a New York Times report. Coca-Cola donated $1.5 million last year to start GEBN and has provided up to $4 million in project funding for two university professors — Dr. Steven N. Blair and James O. Hill — who are the organization’s founding members, the report added.…