AN urgent warning has been issued over slushy drinks in the UK after 21 children were hospitalised.
Children under the age of eight should avoid consuming slush ice drinks containing the sweetening agent glycerol to avoid “glycerol intoxication syndrome”, say researchers.
Currently in the UK, slush drinks – also known as slushies – containing the ingredient are not recommended for children under the age of four.
The advice comes under NHS guidance, which states due to the high levels of glycerol in slush drinks, young children are at risk of having too much glycerol, which can cause dizziness, low blood sugar (glucose), confusion and they can even pass out.
These symptoms occur in young children because their bodies can’t break glycerol down as efficiently as adults.
The guidance was issued by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), with the most recent updates occurring in 2023.
However, academics have called for the public health advice to be revisited after a study of hospitalised children with ages ranging from two to almost seven years old.
Glycerol is a naturally occurring alcohol and sugar substitute which helps slush drinks maintain their texture by preventing liquid from freezing solid.
As part of the study, published in Archives of Disease in Childhood, researchers at University College Dublin looked at the medical notes of 21 children in the UK and Ireland who fell ill after consuming a slushy.
Most cases took place between 2018 and 2024, with children’s ages ranging between two and almost seven.
The youngsters were initially diagnosed with hypoglycaemia, or low blood sugar, after arriving at emergency departments.
Drinking slushies containing glycerol “may cause a clinical syndrome of glycerol intoxication in young children”, said the researchers.
Symptoms included decreased consciousness, hypoglycaemia, lactic acidosis, which occurs when the body produces too much lactic acid, and hypokalaemia, or low potassium.
They added: “Clinicians and parents should be alert to the phenomenon, and public health bodies should ensure clear messaging regarding the fact that younger children, especially those under eight years of age, should avoid slush ice drinks containing glycerol.”
As well as advising against children under four consuming slush ice drinks containing glycerol, the FSA recommends consumption is limited to no more than one slush per day for children aged between five and 10 years.
The time between drinking the slushy and becoming ill was known for 15 children, with 14 becoming unwell within an hour, according to the review.
All 21 children recovered quickly and were discharged with advice not to drink slushies, according to the study.
'We nearly lost our son's life'
FOUR-year-old Albie Pegg started hallucinating then fell unconscious within an hour of drinking a slushy.
The reception pupil had been bowling with a friend after school on October 13, 2023, before gulping down a small strawberry-flavoured iced slushy drink.
Within 30 minutes, his mum, Beth Green, said he appeared “tired and agitated” in the back of the car.
Beth grew increasingly concerned when Albie started “hallucinating”, “clawing at his face” and falling unconscious.
The tot was rushed to hospital, where medics discovered his blood sugar levels were dangerously low and his heartbeat “extremely slow”.
A doctor allegedly told them if they hadn’t brought Albie in, it would have been fatal.
His mum, Beth Green said: “We nearly lost our son’s life. We’ve never experienced anything like this before, he’s always been a fit and healthy child.”
Beth said she believes the recommended age to have the iced drink should be raised to 10.
Of the group, 20 children followed this advice and had no further episodes of low blood sugar.
However, one child had another slushy at the age of seven and developed symptoms within an hour.
Researchers said: “There is poor transparency around slush ice drink glycerol concentration; estimating a safe dose is therefore not easy.
“It is also likely that speed and dose of ingestion, along with other aspects such as whether the drink is consumed alongside a meal or during a fasting state, or consumed after high-intensity exercise, may be contributing factors.”
They added that “there are no nutritional or health benefits from these drinks” and “they are not recommended as part of a balanced diet”.
“Recommendations on their safe consumption therefore need to be weighted towards safety,” the academics said.
“To ensure safe population-level recommendations can be easily interpreted at the individual parental level, and given the variability across an age cohort of weight, we suggest that recommendations should be based on weight rather than age.
“Alternatively, the recommended age threshold may need to be higher (eight years), to ensure the dose per weight would not be exceeded given normal population variation in weight.”
Signs of glycerol intoxication syndrome
CHILDREN below the age of 10 may suffer from headaches and sickness caused by exposure to glycerol.
At very high levels of exposure – typically when several of these products are drunk by a child in a short space of time – glycerol intoxication could cause shock, hypoglycaemia and loss of consciousness.
Typical early warning signs of hypoglycaemia are feeling hungry, trembling or shakiness, and sweating.
In more severe cases, you may also feel confused and have difficulty concentrating.
In very severe cases, a person experiencing hypoglycaemia can lose consciousness.
Source: Food Standards Agency/NHS
