Doctor issues urgent slush warning after two children almost die drinking popular drink

Doctor issues urgent slush warning after two children almost die drinking popular drinkGMB/ITV

Transcript

00:00 The problem here is not the colours, it's the glycerol that's put into slushies

00:03 and it's put in to keep them slushy essentially, it stops them from freezing

00:07 otherwise I'll be to have had an ice lolly and not a slushy. And at low dose

00:11 that's not a problem but the issue is if you consume a lot of glycerol fast

00:16 particularly if you're relatively small, say if you're a small child, that can

00:19 lead water to rush into your blood vessels essentially to compensate and

00:24 you get symptoms like the ones you've just described. And for anyone who's been

00:27 for example dehydrated you'll remember that feeling of dizziness and nausea and

00:31 sometimes even passing out. It's a very similar experience if you have a high

00:34 volume of glycerol very fast. So what's the warning then for parents watching?

00:38 You know what age should and shouldn't children have these? So it's fantastic

00:44 that Beth and Albie are here today to help us kind of get this message out

00:46 because we have issued very clear guidance and the more people that hear

00:49 it the better. So the guidance is if you're four and under you should not be

00:53 consuming these drinks at all and if you're under 10 you should not be

00:56 served free refills. You should have one but not multiple ones and that's

00:59 essentially all about body size. The bigger you are the more glycerol you can take.