{"id":657318,"date":"2025-03-16T05:17:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-16T02:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/kids-under-eight-shouldnt-drink-slushies-researchers-warn\/"},"modified":"2025-03-16T05:17:40","modified_gmt":"2025-03-16T02:17:40","slug":"kids-under-eight-shouldnt-drink-slushies-researchers-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/kids-under-eight-shouldnt-drink-slushies-researchers-warn\/","title":{"rendered":"#Kids under eight shouldn’t drink slushies, researchers warn"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Children under eight should not drink slushy ice drinks containing glycerol, researchers have warned after a string of hospitalizations in the UK and Ireland.<\/p>\n

The brightly colored drinks marketed towards children often use glycerol as a sweetener and anti-freezing agent.<\/p>\n

But high levels can be harmful, especially to children\u2014glycerol intoxication can cause shock, low blood sugar and loss of consciousness.<\/p>\n

In a peer-reviewed medical review published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood<\/i> journal on Tuesday, researchers looked into a “recent app<\/a>arent surge in cases” in the UK and Ireland, and suggested children under eight should avoid the drinks entirely.<\/p>\n

They studied the medical records of 21 children aged two to seven who needed emergency treatment after drinking slushies.<\/p>\n

Most cases took place between 2018 and 2024 and many of the children became acutely ill within an hour, the researchers said.<\/p>\n

Most of the children lost consciousness and showed signs of high blood acidity and low sugar, while four needed brain scans and one had a seizure.<\/p>\n

The children all recovered swiftly, the researchers said.<\/p>\n

Slushy machines were invented in the United States in the 1950s, and the drinks do not always contain glycerol because sugar can be used to stop them freezing solid instead.<\/p>\n

The researchers suggested the spate of cases could be linked to increased concern about high sugar consumption and sugar taxes adopted in the UK and Ireland in recent years.<\/p>\n

Food safety agencies in the two countries already advise that children aged four and under should not have slushies containing glycerol.<\/p>\n

But the researchers said the age should be raised further.<\/p>\n

“Younger children, especially those under eight years of age, should avoid slush ice drinks containing glycerol,” they said.<\/p>\n

“Clinicians and parents should be alert to the phenomenon, and public health bodies should ensure clear messaging.”<\/p>\n

The review’s authors also said there could be cases where children have suffered less serious illness and not been taken to hospital.<\/p>\n

In London, some parents said they supported raising the recommended age.<\/p>\n

Mother Elsa Qorri, 46, told AFP she became worried after her two girls aged five and seven drank slushies last year.<\/p>\n

“They both got brain freeze and couldn’t have any more,” she said. “I’m not going to buy them again until the girls are a little bit older.”<\/p>\n

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More information:<\/strong>
\n Glycerol intoxication syndrome in young children, following the consumption of slush ice drinks, Archives of Disease in Childhood<\/i> (2025). DOI: 10.1136\/archdischild-2024-328109<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n \u00a9 2025 AFP\n <\/p>\n

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\n Citation<\/strong>:
\n Kids under eight shouldn’t drink slushies, researchers warn (2025, March 15)
\n retrieved 15 March 2025
\n from https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/news<\/a>\/2025-03-kids-shouldnt-slushies.html\n <\/p>\n

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