Doctors Find Hundreds Of Bubble Tea Pearls In Teen’s Stomach

• A 14-year-old Chinese girl was hospitalized after she was constipated for five days.
• She said she couldn’t eat, had stomach pains, and experienced other symptoms.
• Doctors found spherical shapes from her stomach to her colon and her anus.
• They realized the shadows were undigested tapioca pearls from bubble tea the teen had consumed.

Bubble tea has quickly become a part of the modern millennial lifestyle. However, one girl had learned her lesson the hard way when she experienced a not-so-pleasant bubble tea experience.

A 14-year old girl in China was admitted to Zhejiang Zhuji City People’s Hospital after she was constipated for five days. She also complained of an excruciating stomach ache.

After the young girl was brought to the hospital, doctors finally figured out what caused the pain. When they saw the result of her scan, doctors discovered hundreds of circular objects that filled her stomach, colon, and anus.

They were initially baffled by the bizarre shadows on the girl’s result. Eventually, they confirmed that they were undigested tapioca pearls from bubble tea that the teen had previously consumed.

At first, the teenager said she only drank one cup of the beverage five days before the incident. However, Doctor Zhang Louzhen believe that it’s impossible for her to have hundreds of pearls in her scan if she only had one cup.

He suspected that the girl’s situation was caused by frequent consumption of the beverage and not just for one time like she said. She was then prescribed laxatives to expel the objects from her body.

Head of the Zhuji City People’s Hospital’s emergency department, Yu Ling, has since warned the public that tapioca pearls are hard to digest. This is because bubble tea pearls are made of starch, and some shops even add thickeners and preservatives to the pearls.