diff --git a/eth/downloader/queue.go b/eth/downloader/queue.go
index a9ba3156c3..39be90216a 100644
--- a/eth/downloader/queue.go
+++ b/eth/downloader/queue.go
@@ -375,10 +375,11 @@ func (q *queue) Results(block bool) []*fetchResult {
 
 	results := q.resultCache.GetCompleted(maxResultsProcess)
 
+	var throttleThreshold uint64
 	if len(results) > 0 {
 		// set a throttle threshhold based on estimated worst-sized block that can be created for a given gas limit.
 		gasLimit := max(results[0].Header.GasLimit, 10)
-		throttleThreshold := min(uint64(blockCacheMemory)/(gasLimit/10), 2048)
+		throttleThreshold = min(uint64(blockCacheMemory)/(gasLimit/10), 2048)
 		throttleThreshold = q.resultCache.SetThrottleThreshold(throttleThreshold)
 	}