What are the dangers of slush drinks? Parents warned after four-year-old boy hospitalised

Parents are being warned of the dangers of giving children a slush drink after a four-year-old boy was hospitalised. 

As reported by the Daily Mail, Beth Green faced any parents worst nightmare when her son Albie collapsed and fell unconscious after drinking a slush drink. 

On a trip to a bowling alley, Albie drank a strawberry-flavoured slush drink, but within half an hour he appeared ‘tired and agitated’.

Albie’s blood pressure levels had dropped to dangerously low levels and had suffered a ‘glycerol intolerance’. A doctor said that if Albie hadn’t been taken to hospital, it may have been fatal. 

Albie is not the only child to be hospitalised in the UK after drinking a slush drink. According to the Daily Mail, a child in Scotland also fell unconscious after drinking a slush. Three-year-old Angus suffered from ‘glycerol toxicity’.

The Food Standard Agency (FSA) has since issued new voluntary industry guidance on glycerol in slush drinks. 

They explained that slushes can contain glycerol as a substitute for sugar. Glycerol is found in other foods but at a much lower quantity than in slush drinks.

If a young child consumes an excessive amount of glycerol, they can be at risk of glycerol intoxication, which causes headaches, sickness, shock, hypoglycemia and unconsciousness.

FSA have advised that slush drinks should not be sold to children aged four and under. They also recommended that refills should not be made available to children aged ten and under.