Children under eight should avoid drinking slushies, doctors warn

Children should completely avoid "slushy" ice drinks containing glycerol, which can make them very ill, until they are at least eight years old, say researchers calling for official health advice to change.

The researchers studied the cases of 21 two-to-seven-year-olds in the UK and Ireland who needed emergency treatment soon after drinking a slushy product.

The brightly coloured drinks are designed to appeal to children - but most contain the naturally occurring sweetener glycerol, instead of sugar, to stop them freezing solid and give the slushy effect.

Current Food Standards Agency (FSA) advice says under-fives should avoid the drinks and under-11s should have no more than one.

The advice is due to concerns that if a young child drinks a slushy too quickly, glycerol intoxication could cause shock, hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) and loss of consciousness.

Arla, two, and Albie, four, both ended up in hospital after drinking slushies.

All of the children in the study, published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, needed accident-and-emergency (A&E) treatment after becoming acutely ill within an hour of having the drinks, mostly between 2018 and 2024.

Doctors said they had "glycerol intoxication syndrome" and were affected in a variety of ways:

• most lost consciousness and showed signs of low sugar and high acidity in the blood.
• four needed brain scans
• one had a seizure

The children all recovered and were discharged from hospital, with advice to avoid slushies.

Lead study author Professor Ellen Crushell, from Dublin, warned that the 21 cases looked at in the study could be the "tip of the iceberg", although she stressed that thousands of children drink slushes worlwide every day without suffering ill-effects.

There could be a "milder cohort" who may not need hospital treatment but still suffer symptoms such as "nausea and vomiting", she added.

The paediatricians behind the study - all working in the UK and Ireland - say it's difficult for parents to work out how much glycerol is contained in slushy ice drinks.

Recommendations based on a child's weight are hard for parents to interpret, they say, and how quickly a slushy is drunk and whether it's taken with a meal or after exercise can also be factors in the side-effects experienced.

"Estimating a safe dose is therefore not easy," the researchers say, who recommend changing the advice based on a child's age instead.

Dr Sally Anne Wilson, chair of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine's safer care committee, told BBC Breakfast: "As a parent you want to make sensible decisions for what you buy your child and if you're not aware that there's glycerol in the slushie and what that can do, then you're not going to have any qualms about buying the said slushie."

Dr Wilson said age-based advice on the drinks is difficult because there's a variation in children's weight, but added "there's definitely an argument" for increasing the minimum age because it would solve that problem.

One reason for the recent rise in children becoming ill may be the lower sugar content of the slushies, which is attractive to parents, the study says.

In countries with no sugar tax, they contain much more glucose and often no glycerol at all, the authors say.

Rebecca Sudworth, director of policy at the Food Standards Agency, said 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."

The FSA added: "While the symptoms of glycerol intoxication are usually mild, it is important that parents are aware of the risks - particularly at high levels of consumption."