Summer is around the corner, and with it comes the temptation to cool down with an ice-cold beverage from one of your favorite fast-food chains.
But beware; those neon-colored, frivolous drinks are less innocent than you think. Some are packed with more than three times the amount of sugar that the Food and Drug Administration recommends daily.
According to the FDA, Americans should eat and drink no more than 50 grams of sugar a day — roughly the same amount that's in a single can of Coke.
But the reality is we consume far more. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the average American consumes more like 94 grams a day.
Avoiding sugar can be harder than you think. To help you understand how much sugar your favorite drinks contain, we put together the following series of visualizations in which 1 sugar cube represents 2.3 grams of sugar.
We chose the largest sizes available at each chain.
Starbucks Sweetened Iced Coffee (venti, 24-oz)
Total grams of sugar: 30
Percent of FDA recommended daily intake: 60%
McDonald's Sweet Tea (32-oz)
Total grams of sugar: 38
Percent of FDA recommended daily intake: 76%
Shake Shack Shack-made Lemonade (24-oz)
Total grams of sugar: 59
Percent of FDA recommended daily intake: 118%
See the rest of the story at Business Insider