Some lollipops have been marketed for use as diet aids, although their effectiveness is untested, and anecdotal cases of weight loss may be due to the power of suggestion.

[7] The idea of an edible candy on a stick is very simple, and it is probable that the lollipop has been invented and reinvented numerous times.

The first confections that closely resemble lollipops date back to the Middle Ages, when the nobility would often eat boiled sugar with the aid of sticks or handles.

The invention of the modern lollipop is still something of a mystery, but a number of American companies in the early 20th century have laid claim to it.

According to the book Food for Thought: Extraordinary Little Chronicles of the World, they were invented by George Smith of New Haven, Connecticut, who started making large hard candies mounted on sticks in 1908.

[11] Alternatively, it may be a word of Romani origin, related to the Roma tradition of selling candy apples on a stick.

When sugars are in straight-chain form, aldehyde and ketone groups are open, which leaves them very susceptible to reaction.

When heated enough to break the molecules apart, sugar generates a complex flavor, changes the color, and creates a pleasing aroma.

Glassy amorphous solids result when moderate sugar concentrations (50% solutions) are heated to high temperatures, eliminating nearly all moisture.

Additional flavors, colorings, and inclusions (like bubble gum or a Tootsie Roll) can be added to the final product but are not part of the main structure of a simple lollipop.

The formation and physical state of the glassy amorphous structure used in the creation of the lollipop are involved in a chemical process.