A MUM has called for a ban on selling “toxic” slushies to children – after she claims her tot fell into a “comatose-like state” hours after slurping the drink.
Luna Williams, 4, was shopping with her grandma Susan Williams when she asked for a blue slushy as a treat.
But half an hour after consuming just a quarter of the iced drink, Luna began complaining of a headache, before vomiting in the car home and nearly passing out.
Horrified, 66-year-old Susan rang Luna’s mum, Jess Mellors, and rushed her granddaughter home where she was very sleepy and fell into a 30-minute deep sleep she couldn’t be roused from.
Susan explained: “We took Luna to the shop five minutes from us. She loves to go there.
“She asked for a slushy. My husband bought her the blue one. She was playing in the playground and coming back to our table every two minutes to have a little sip.
“She’d drunk maybe a quarter of the small cup and she told us that her head hurt.
“By the end, she’d drunk maybe half the drink in an hour.
“As we were walking to the car, she just let out this almighty burp. Everyone turned around and looked.
“She was distressed. It all happened so quickly.
“My husband picked her up and we put her in the car. She kept saying ‘my head’ and then she was retching, almost passing out.”
After researching online, Jess discovered that the Food Standards Agency (FSA) issued guidance in June advising that slush drinks containing glycerol should not be given to children under seven.
The brightly coloured slushies are a popular summer treat, often sold at cinemas, corner shops and theme parks when it is hot.
But the frozen drinks often contain glycerol, also called E422 or glycerine on some label, as a substitute for sugar to prevent them from freezing solid.
The FSA said kids under seven should not be given the sweet icy drinks, which may contain high levels of a syrup that can be harmful to young children.
It also warned that children aged between seven and ten should not have more than one 350ml slush drink a day. That is the same size as a can of Coca-Cola.
‘She’d gone into some sort of comatose state’
Jess, 34, a stay-at-home mum, said her daughter didn’t even have the energy to make it to bed before falling asleep on the floor.
Jess said: “They brought her home and it seemed like she’d gone into some sort of comatose state. She was very lethargic and sleepy.
“She couldn’t even make it to bed. She just lay down on the floor. She didn’t have the energy to make it to bed.
“She wouldn’t wake up, which was worrying to me because she’d gone straight to sleep. I knew straight away something wasn’t right.”
Jess was considering taking little Luna to hospital but luckily her symptoms began to improve before she needed to seek medical intervention.
Now, the mum-of-five is calling for a ban on children purchasing slushies without their parents being present, and said that they should not be served to under-sevens.
Jess, who lives in Tamworth, Staffordshire, said: “The day that it happened she was absolutely fine.
“But within a couple of hours, her nan had messaged me to say she was bringing her home because she wasn’t very well and had thrown up.”
After taking Luna back home, terrified mum Jess said her daughter could not even make it to bed before “passing out” on the floor.
Luckily, Luna has made a full recovery since the incident in September – but the ordeal has made Jess adamant that the drinks should not be served to children.
Signs of glycerol intoxication syndrome
CHILDREN below the age of 10 may suffer from headaches and sickness caused by exposure to glycerol.
At very high levels of exposure – typically when several of these products are drunk by a child in a short space of time – glycerol intoxication could cause shock, hypoglycaemia and loss of consciousness.
Typical early warning signs of hypoglycaemia are feeling hungry, trembling or shakiness, and sweating.
In more severe cases, you may also feel confused and have difficulty concentrating.
In very severe cases, a person experiencing hypoglycaemia can lose consciousness.
Source: Food Standards Agency/NHS
Jess said: “I looked online and gave her some juice to help bring the sugar levels back up. It was evident it was the slushy.
“They’re for kids, yet they’re dangerous for kids. They’re toxic.
“Even if there’s a warning that kids can’t buy these slushies without their parents, then it’s down to the parents then.”
Professor Robin May, Chief Scientific Advisor at the FSA, said: “As we head into the summer holidays, we want parents to be aware of the potential risks associated with slush ice drinks containing glycerol.”
“While these drinks may seem harmless and side effects are generally mild, they can, especially when consumed in large quantities over a short time, pose serious health risks to young children,” he added.
Jess was determined that more should be done to protect children from the potential effects of these drinks.
She said: “It should be treated the same as an energy drink. A child should not be allowed to buy them.
“She’s never having those again.”
