Four year old Marnie Moore from Lancashire had a seemingly innocent treat turned in a terrifying medical emergency when she left flopped and unconscious after drinking a popular slushy beverage. Glycerol toxicity, the rare but life threatening condition resulting from the artificial sweeteners found in a lot of iced drinks, was diagnosed by doctors, who rushed the child to hospital. It followed shortly after Marnie had about 500ml of slushy at a children’s party. At first she looked aggravated and drowsy, then dropped unconscious like a rock. When Marnie wouldn’t wake up and went pale, and was completely limp, Kim Moore of New York knew that something was wrong. She was found to be suffering from hypoglycaemic shock, (a dangerous plunge in blood sugar) untreated can lead to coma and death, she confirmed.
Twenty five agonising minutes later Marnie remained unconscious, during which time her blood sugar was stabilized and she finally woke up, screaming in pain and vomiting. It took three days in hospital for her to recover and since then her mother has vowed her children will never again have slush drinks. Now she is calling for the drinks to be banned for children under 12 in light of a dearth of public awareness and the potential danger behind these brightly colored beverages dispensed freely at play centers and parties. ‘We went through such things, I wouldn’t wish them to happen to our worst enemy,’ said Kim.
The problem originates in glycerol — a common ingredient for the sweetening of slush drinks such that they remain barely frozen. Adults and older children have little problem metabolizing glycerol and younger children cannot. This causes water to be withdrawn from the body by a buildup of glycerol, which then leads to dangerously low blood sugar. In Marnie’s case, it can be worse, though the mild symptoms include nausea and headaches. There is less emphasis on not giving slushies to children under four compared to under eight, experts said. In reality, a new study published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood assessed 21 cases of children, who acutely fell ill after drinking slushies, and found that the safety guidelines are outdated and not strict enough.
Unfortunately, Marnie’s case is unfortunately not isolated. It is reflected in several similar incidents surfaced which reflects a growing trend. Albie Green ended up in a near fatal state after drinking a strawberry flavoured slushie during an outing bowling in Warwickshire. He started to hallucinate, clawed at his face and collapsed. His heart rate crashed as medics were forced to make a poor man begin resuscitation. Later doctors confirmed that if or his parents hadn’t acted as they did, Albie would’ve died.
With three year old Angus from Port Glasgow, Scotland, it was another alarming case. Angus collapsed while shopping, sat drinking a raspberry slushie from his mother’s arms and is ‘stone cold’. He was rushed to the scene and paramedics were able to stabilize him before his blood sugar was too low. For two hours, he remained unconscious at Glasgow Children’s Hospital before he recovered.
But these terrifying stories are also following other UK researchers warning of an unintended consequence of the UK’s sugar tax. Many manufacturers simply replaced sugar with glycerol to make it possible for drinks to stay slushy with 5g of sugar per 100ml, one fifth less than was previously required. Intended well, however, this change brought new health risks in particular for children. They have also made some changes to their recipes, and some companies like Slush Puppie have removed glycerol from their recipes altogether.
Even with these efforts, many shops, arcades and activity centers still dispense slushies to infants and young children without warnings or restrictions. Kim Moore, a parent, is just one of many demanding people consider twice before letting their kids drink these drinks. The candy are marketed as treats, but for mine they can be poisonous,” she said.
As more incidents are being reported, medical experts and researchers are now requesting updated public health guidelines, better labeling and policies on slush drinks. Perhaps these changes are becoming too obvious: until these changes are made, be it with ice cream or force, parents may want to steer their children away from the icy drink (even if it seems harmless).