You Will Never Look at Soda the Same Way Again After Reading This

Hint: there's enough sugar to make huge lollipops.

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mc-coke-lollipop
(Image credit: Henry Hargreaves)

After all the harrowing news you've heard about what soda can do to your body (think The Renegade Pharmacist's viral infographic), you've most likely trained yourself to opt for hydration over satisfying your sweet tooth by now.

Even though you're well aware that reaching for a a bottle of Fiji water will always be a better choice than guzzling down a can of Coke, have you ever really thought about the amount of sugar used to make your favorite fizzy drink? 

Food photographer Henry Hargreaves has. While trying to capture what 77 grams of sugar (the average for a bottle of Mountain Dew) actually looks like, the New Zealand-born artist made a very interesting discovery. 

"After recently hearing a health professional refer to soda as 'the cigarettes of our generation,' I decided to do an experiment to show what's in soft drinks after the water is boiled away — in other words, dehydrating the hydrator," Hargreaves told Mashable. "Once boiled, I took each remaining substance and poured it into a lollipop mold. After all, I figure that's what you're essentially getting: candy in costume as a soft drink."

Here, five visuals of the sugar (in the form of oversized lollipops) you unknowingly consume: 

1. Mountain Dew, 77 grams of sugar

mc-mountain-dew-lollipop

(Image credit: Henry Hargreaves)

2. Coke, 39 grams of sugar

mc-coke-lollipop

(Image credit: Henry Hargreaves)

3. Jarritos, 29 grams of sugar

mc-jarritos-lollipop

(Image credit: Henry Hargreaves)

4. Snapple, 46 grams of sugar

mc-snapple-lollipop

(Image credit: Henry Hargreaves)

5. Vitamin Water, 33 grams of sugar

mc-vitamin-water-lollipop

(Image credit: Henry Hargreaves)
Evan Real
Evan Real