Which coffee chain drink has as much sugar as 2 cups of ice cream?

You probably wouldn't eat a chocolate bar on your way to work, but depending on your morning beverage of choice, you could be getting a similar amount of sugar in your favourite coffee shop drink. 

To learn more about how much of the sweet stuff Canadians are sipping on, Marketplace reviewed online nutrition information for some popular drinks available at coffee shop chains across the country and found some contain a surprising amount of sugar. 

"I think people are addicted to sweet, and it's leading to a health-care crisis," said hepatologist and gastroenterologist Dr. Supriya Joshi, who believes most people have no idea how much sugar is really in their daily dose of caffeine.

While many Canadians may know sugar is associated with weight gain and obesity, Joshi points out sugar is also related to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which is the storage of extra fat in the liver. Excess sugar in our diet is gradually turned into fat cells, which are stored in the liver, among other places. Over time, fat cells can replace liver cells, leading to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Consider the Canadian classic, a Tim Hortons double-double.

While its name implies two teaspoons of sugar and two teaspoons of cream, Joshi says a medium double-double coffee from Tim Hortons is actually more like a quadruple-quadruple. 

WATCH | How much sugar is in your double-double? 

It actually has four teaspoons of sugar in it and another teaspoon of sugar from the cream. 

Dietitian Stefania Palmeri says for calories and sugar, that's similar to a 50 g Caramilk bar.

A Cadbury's Caramilk bar has 240 calories and 26 grams of sugar, while a medium double-double has 200 calories and 21 grams of sugar.

"When you put it in perspective, in that sense of you're having a chocolate bar on your drive in to work every morning, then that might shift perspective," she said.

But recognizing how much sugar is in a beverage isn't always an easy task.

Consider Tim Hortons' Iced Capp Light for example.

The chain has called the drink a "balanced menu item" to help you make "sensible, wholesome choices." But a closer look reveals that while the Iced Capp Light, made with milk instead of cream, has 40 per cent fewer calories than the regular version, the sugar remains the same. Both the Iced Capp and the Iced Capp Light have 39 grams of sugar in their medium sizes — almost 10 teaspoons.