Slushies not to be given to young children report says...

[crossstitchingnana]

I had no idea of the dangers of giving young children slushies. My kids are grown up but thought it important to share this news on BBC..

Children should avoid drinking slushies, say researchers www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0l196l2k8ko

What a load of rubbish!

I didn’t realise they are dangerous until I saw the article in the new today. I let my children choose them at the ice cream van in the summer instead of an ice lolly! I don’t let them have cola but I assumed wrongly they were in the same camp as a twister or Fab Lolly!

I’ll have to show my kids this. They get very disgruntled with me as I personally wouldn’t let them have one because I am suspicious that those machines wouldn’t be cleaned properly but also they look completely toxic with the mad colouring. However they have been given them at parties, with friends ect.

If they are on sale and are clearly designed to appeal to children then you would expect them to be safe.

Rubbish my DC we’re allowed the on holiday and not before or after. 🙄

I don't think that's fair.

I've never bought my DC one, but that's because I'm tight and don't buy drinks when we're out. But I wouldn't have had particular safety concerns about these, I'd have assumed they were no worse than an ice lolly, just crushed up.

I agree with PP special events - parties - hoildays wouldn't have thought twice - though only times I know they had them was treat with IL.

Now if IL knew they were dangerous for kids really don't think they'd have given them - though convincing them without some offical warning on product I'd have likely got argument that if they were being sold they must be safe.

Not necessarily true.

We eat well around 90% of the time, all meals and puddings home made.

But on the very rare occasion dc went to the cinema, I let them get a little pick a mix and a slushie.

I always thought it would be more unhealthy to be too militant, obviously I may have to revise that thinking if food and drink that is unsafe for children is being advertised and sold to them.

You just have to look at them to know that they are just unnatural - I have a no juice/ fizzy drinks policy unless it’s a special occasion - but at least I can trace back some of the source in juice.

With slushies - I just don’t understand them! I usually said no, and the few times I’ve bought it we can never finish them.

I think it’s crazy that they are at every cinema, adventure place etc. Hopefully they are banned soon.

I am suspicious that those machines wouldn’t be cleaned properly

You are right to be suspicious.

In order to maintain hygiene properly, the machine has to be powered down, the contents drained and discarded, the machine then cleaned by hand, refilled, powered up, and then it takes a while to start producing crystals again.

It's enormously time consuming and eats into their profitability, managers hate them because it's a drain on manpower, and there's no guarantee the staff doing the job give it the necessary care and attention anyway. Most of the time it's a simple case of filling up the syrups as and when needed, and paying them little heed otherwise.

I bought one for my 4 yo last summer at the beach and feel awful now. Won’t be doing that again!!!

Oh dear, I never knew there was an issue with this at all. See lots of young kids having the odd slushie around here (tourist town) when the weather is good.

My lovely disabled neighbour set up a slushie business touring around local events when she could no longer work full-time. This'll be a blow to her as well as a safety risk to kids.

Yes a lot of judgement. I have a massive poker up my ass about ultra processed food and kids being given junk but I've definitely caved in to the pressure a couple of times on treat days out. I admire the parents who never ever give in to their DC's whines when faced with a relentless barrage of brightly coloured, attractive (to them) display of food and drinks everywhere you go. I assumed slushies were trashy on a similar scale to other soft drinks apart from the colourings which again I would assume were safe.

This has been known for ages and previously in the news. It's been discussed on here too. I'm amazed they're still allowed to sell them.

My lovely disabled neighbour set up a slushie business touring around local events when she could no longer work full-time. This'll be a blow to her as well as a safety risk to kids.

Depends on her ethics tbf, and if these drinks are to be banned, as they should be.

The soft play place near me has a sign in it saying they won't sell one to a child under 5. It's good to see some places taking the advice seriously.

Slushies contain glycerol instead of sugar so some people would buy them as the 'healthier' option.

And people saying that anything that colour is obviously not for children has not seen the colour of the antibiotics prescribed for my child! People don't automatically know these things. They need educating and there is no shame in not knowing that a drink marketed at children that you probably had dozens of in your own childhood is potentially toxic.

Me too - I am surprised they can.

I just said it would be a blow to her because presumably, far fewer people are going to risk buying them at all. I don't actually know whether her products contain glycerol or anything. I know she's regularly inspected and regularly has someone come and clean the equipment, that's about it.

I didn;t say they shouldn't be banned!

i mean they certainly scream not a healthy drink with the colour of them but I wouldn’t expect any drink targeting young children to put them at risk of getting seriously ill even after one of them!

I feel at bit sick about it to be honest. It was a bit of a thing in our community to rent them for parties. I’m sure my kids have had 2/3 of them at a time, even though I have never personally bought one.

This is rubbish. I care greatly about my DCs health but that doesn’t mean I don’t allow him the occasional indulgence of something like a slushie.

He had very low blood sugar so it was definitely the drink and not bacteria

Obviously there are many reasons why they're not great, but slushies are (relatively) fine if they contain glucose instead of glycerol.

Ironically, the push to avoid sugar has turned them into poison in some countries.

Not so, and actually if they were loaded with sugar, they wouldn't be causing the problems doctors have been seeing. It's the sugar substitute (glycerol) that is doing the damage.

Sugar is not the enemy it is believed to be.

On a hot day I would have bought one for grandchild…now I won’t!

In eight years my son has had two slushies. I thought they were no worse than say a coke or a bag of luminous sweets etc. and harmless for a very occasional thing. The news stories are shocking to me and we won't be buying them again.

Yes, there have been a few stories about this. If they had sugar in, they’d be ok (although obviously not the healthiest choice). The Sugar Tax is a stupid, ill-thought out idea IMO, and has led to children having more artificial sweeteners (try to find a squash without them) which are controversial anyway (see the recent reports about one type and heart disease). The whole idea that replacing something natural (sugar) with chemical crap is better for health is daft - as demonstrated by these slushies:

“One reason for the recent rise in children becoming ill may be the lower sugar content of the slushies, which is attractive to parents, the study says.
In countries with no sugar tax, they contain much more glucose and often no glycerol at all, the authors say.”

My answer when they ask....

Raspberries are not blue!