Kids under 8 shouldn’t drink slushies containing glycerol – study

Children under the age of eight should not be drinking slushies with an additive called glycerol, researchers say.

The study published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood looked at the cases of 21 children in the UK and Ireland aged between two and six, who had fallen ill an hour after consuming slush drink products and required emergency treatment.

University College Dublin paediatricians behind the study concluded that children fell ill as a result of glycerol intoxication syndrome, caused by the additive glyceral which was used in some low-and-no sugar drinks to maintain the slush effect and stop them freezing over.

"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 8 years of age, should avoid slush ice drinks containing glycerol," researchers said.

The children showed symptoms such as loss of consciousness and low blood sugar.

Other potential symptoms included lactic acidosis - which occurs when the body produces too much lactic acid - and hypokalaemia, or low potassium.

In the UK, the Food Standards Agency advised against children under four consuming slush ice drinks containing glycerol, and recommended limiting consumption to no more than one per day for children aged 5 to 10, due to potential glycerol intoxication risks.

Rebecca Sudworth, director of policy at the Food Standards Agency, told BBC it was considering the finding of the review "carefully".

"We continue to strongly encourage parents to follow [our] advice which is that slushie drinks should not be given to children under four years old. Retailers are also advised to make parents fully aware of this guidance."

According to the study, the children who fell ill all recovered quickly and were discharged with advice to not drink slushies.

All except one followed the advice - that child developed symptoms within an hour of having a slushy when aged seven.

"There is poor transparency around slush ice drink glycerol concentration; estimating a safe dose is therefore not easy," researchers said.

“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.”

It said there were no nutritional or health benefits from the drinks.

“Recommendations on their safe consumption therefore need to be weighted towards safety,” they 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."