Youngsters below eight mustn’t drink slushies containing glycerol, paediatricians have warned.
Public well being recommendation on their security may have revising after a evaluate of the medical notes of 21 youngsters who grew to become acutely unwell shortly after consuming one of many iced drinks, medical doctors concluded.
Their findings had been revealed within the journal Archives of Illness in Childhood. They confirmed that in every case the kid grew to become acutely unwell with a cluster of signs quickly after consuming a slushie.
The youngsters fell in poor health because of what the research known as glycerol intoxication syndrome, which brought on signs corresponding to decreased consciousness and low blood sugar.
Glycerol is a naturally occurring alcohol and sugar substitute which helps slushies keep their texture by stopping liquid from freezing strong.
Within the UK, slushies containing glycerol usually are not advisable for kids below the age of 4. The evaluate staff at College Faculty Dublin, led by the marketing consultant paediatrician Prof Ellen Crushell, known as for well being recommendation to be revised.
All however one of many instances came about between 2018 and 2024, with youngsters’s ages ranging between two and virtually seven.
All had been initially identified with hypoglycaemia, or low blood sugar, after arriving at emergency departments. The evaluate staff advised consuming slushies containing glycerol “might trigger a medical syndrome of glycerol intoxication in younger youngsters”.
Signs included decreased consciousness, hypoglycaemia, lactic acidosis, which happens when the physique produces an excessive amount of lactic acid, and hypokalaemia, or low potassium.
They added: “Clinicians and oldsters ought to be alert to the phenomenon, and public well being our bodies ought to guarantee clear messaging relating to the truth that youthful youngsters, particularly these below eight years of age, ought to keep away from slush ice drinks containing glycerol.”
The Meals Requirements Company (FSA) advises in opposition to youngsters below 4 consuming slush ice drinks containing glycerol. It additionally recommends consumption be restricted to no multiple slush a day for kids aged between 5 and 10 years.
The time between consuming the slushie and changing into in poor health was identified for 15 youngsters, with 14 changing into unwell inside an hour, based on the evaluate.
All 21 youngsters recovered shortly and had been discharged with the recommendation to not drink slushies, based on the research.
Of the group, 20 youngsters adopted this recommendation and had no additional episodes of low blood sugar. However one little one had one other slushie on the age of seven and developed signs inside an hour.
The researchers stated: “There may be poor transparency round slush ice drink glycerol focus; estimating a protected dose is subsequently not straightforward.
“It is usually doubtless that pace and dose of ingestion, together with different elements corresponding to whether or not the drink is consumed alongside a meal or throughout a fasting state, or consumed after high-intensity train, could also be contributing components.”
They added that “there aren’t any dietary or well being advantages from these drinks” and “they don’t seem to be advisable as a part of a balanced eating regimen.
“Suggestions on their protected consumption subsequently must be weighted in direction of security,” they stated.
“To make sure protected population-level suggestions could be simply interpreted on the particular person parental stage, and given the variability throughout an age cohort of weight, we advise that suggestions ought to be primarily based on weight slightly than age.
“Alternatively, the advisable age threshold might must be increased (eight years), to make sure the dose per weight wouldn’t be exceeded given regular inhabitants variation in weight.”
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