Why Does Boba Make Me Poop?

What is boba pearl made of?

Bubble tea pearls, or boba pearls, are usually made out of tapioca, a starch extracted from the roots of cassava plants. So here’s where things start not adding up.

According to Asia One, the story began when a 14-year-old girl from China told her parents she had been constipated for five days, wasn’t able to eat, and had serious stomach pain.

Doctors here in the US who looked into the case said that tapioca and other ingredients typically found in bubble tea pearls wouldn’t show up on an X-ray or CT scan. There had to be something unusual in the pearls the girl consumed for them to show on the scan.

However, Dr. Kushnir says that an additive sometimes used in bubble tea pearls, called guar gum, can cause constipation . Guar gum is a fiber that helps hold the balls together; it also expands when it comes in contact with water.