How sweet: A dietitian looks at pop, energy drinks and taxes

Debate has been swirling about whether a "sugar tax" might curb consumption of unhealthy drinks, with the latest sparkcoming from a CBC report earlier this week that revealed the provincial government believes it could bring in $10 million a year through such a measure.

• Tax on pop could bring in more cash than additional HST on books

Dietitian Lisa Dooley is in favour of such a move as long as the money raised isput to good use.

"I think the idea of a sugar tax can be a great one if the tax money is used to create healthy environments, so people can make healthy choices,and it's the easy choice to make," Dooley said Thursday in an interview.

That would mean, for instance, that clean water is readily available, and that vegetables would be cheaper and more widely accessible.

So what are the risks of soft drinks and other beverages?

Dooley, who works with the lifestyles program at the Janeway Children's Health and Rehabilitation Centre, walked Here & Now's Debbie Cooper through a range of commercial beverages, noting that some "sports drinks," for example, contain the equivalent of 13 cubes of sugar.

Watch the video above to see for yourself just how sweet many popular beverages are.