Children under eight could soon be put on a slushy ban due to the drink’s potentially dangerous ingredient.
Scientists have warned children younger than eight should not be given slush-ice drinks containing the sweetener glycerol.
Youngsters gulping down the cold drinks have become unwell with ‘glycerol intoxication syndrome’, leaving them with symptoms of decreased consciousness and low blood sugar.
Slush drinks in the UK typically contain glycerol, giving them their texture by stopping the liquid from freezing solid.
The ingredient is already not recommended for under-fours in Britain, but academics have called for that number to rise.
Published in Archives of Disease in Childhood, researchers tracked the cases of 21 kids in the UK and Ireland who fell all ill after drinking a slushy.
14 of them were rushed to hospital within an hour with symptoms of glycerol intoxication syndrome.
While 20 recovered quickly, one drank another slush drink at the age of seven and developed symptoms rapidly again.
These medics have now warned slushies containing glycerol ‘may cause a clinical syndrome of glycerol intoxication in young children’.
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.’
The mother of one four-year-old spoke out publicly when her son became unresponsive after downing a slushy.
Beth Green’s son Albie, who was likely glycerol intolerant, even appeared to suffer ‘hallucinations’ before they rushed him to hospital, where he took three days to recover.
Beth said: ‘We were shocked. He’d had slushies so many times before. Why had he only had a reaction now?
‘I was angry that it was something so simple. I’m a parent that’s conscious of what her child consumes.
She added: ‘They need to raise the limit on the guidelines. I don’t think they should be sold to under-10s.’
The Food Standards Agency have already said the drinks are ‘not suitable for under-4s.
They have also advised retailers not to give free slushy refills to under-10s to stop them drinking too much glycerol.
Glycerol has no nutritional or health benefits and are not recommended as part of a balanced diet.
Researchers said it was not easy to estimate a safe dose of the substance and it depended on the weight of the child.
They added: ‘There is poor transparency around slush ice drink glycerol concentration.
‘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.
‘Recommendations on their safe consumption therefore need to be weighted towards safety.
‘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.’
A spokesperson for the British Soft Drinks Association said: ‘Our members abide by all relevant and current ingredient legislation and that includes glycerol, which is authorised as an additive for use in the UK and Europe and which has been used for a number of years by manufacturers of ‘slush’ ice drinks in place of glucose in order to stop the product from freezing.
‘As is standard practice, we work with the Food Standards Agency to help provide Industry information about glycerol’s use in slush drinks and to ensure our members are aware of the latest voluntary guidance, including recommended age restrictions for the product.’
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