"Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first," said American author Ernestine Ulmer.

There's a reason why dessert is so universally loved. In the heat of the summer months, there is nothing more refreshing than a cool, frozen confection.

While it's certainly acceptable to indulge in a sweet treat every now and then, excess sugar consumption can lead to serious, lasting health problems. Even many seemingly innocent American diets are filled with hidden sugar, a topic explored by Katie Couric in her documentary "Fed Up."

HealthGrove, a health care research and analysis site powered by Graphiq, found the most sugary frozen desserts at 25 popular chain restaurants. To do this, they compared all frozen dessert menu items at each respective chain and selected the one with the most grams of sugar. The data is pulled from menus as of July 20, 2016.

Frozen desserts with a combination of candy, ice cream and baked goods dominate the top of the list. More than half of these desserts double the World Health Organization's daily sugar intake recommendation of 25 grams. In fact, the most sugary desserts on this list are five to six times more than the recommended allowance. So, next time you reach for the dessert menu, make sure to consider all of your options.

Note: For desserts with different size options, the medium size was selected for comparison. Ties were broken by calorie count.