A 14-year-old girl in Zhejiang, China recently went viral for her hospital X-ray scan, which apparently revealed hundreds of undigested bubble tea pearls clustered in her body.

We had questions after looking at the X-ray scan, which has since been re-posted thousands of times on social media. Like, why do the pearls appear as intact pellets, as though the girl had swallowed her bubble tea whole, pearls and all, like a python? Is this fake news, like the articles our mother sends us about Wi-Fi radiation frying our brain?

So 8days.sg investigated and showed our general practitioner the X-ray scan. We learnt that the sinister-looking granules are actually not tapioca pearls as widely believed, but lumps of impacted faeces. Oh, crap.

The GP, who declines to be named, paints a graphic picture: “The X-ray shows that the patient’s body is full of faeces. Pearls are made of tapioca starch, which is glue-like. The pearls that are not digested well combine with other foods consumed and cause faeces to become sticky, which leads to partial or total bowel obstruction.”

We’re not sure which is worse, being filled with massive amounts of undigested bubble tea pearls or… poop.

Chinese news website The Paper first reported that the girl’s parents rushed her to the Zhuji People’s Hospital in Zhejiang on May 28, 2019, after she complained of intense abdominal pain, a poor appetite and constipation.

After a CT scan of the girl’s abdominal region, the hospital’s Dr Zhang Louzhen examined the X-ray results and was surprised to find granular shadows filling most of her organs, from the stomach to the colon and anus.

When questioned about what she had eaten recently, the young girl admitted that she had drank a cup of bubble tea five days ago, which led the doctor to conclude that her discomfort was brought about by undigested tapioca pearls, which are commonly found in bubble tea drinks.

The doctor reportedly told Chinese news outlets that it’s highly possible that the girl had been consuming large quantities of bubble tea, which, er, snowballed to her current condition. “That many undigested pearls are usually accumulated by drinking bubble tea over a period,” he was quoted as saying. He also prescribed a laxative to ease the girl’s bowel movements.

For folks who think that the bowel-obstructin’ culprit is the common black tapioca pearl and not the translucent ‘golden bubbles’, we’re sorry to burst your, erm, bubble. A quick Google search informed that both regular and golden pearls have the same base ingredient, tapioca starch, which is known to cause digestive problems when eaten in large amounts.

But don’t throw away your Tiger Sugar drink and swear off bubble tea forever. Our GP chirps that the occasional bubble tea is harmless: “Every food is the same. Don’t eat too much and you’ll be okay.”

We've to put the responsible disclaimer here and say this ain't official medical advice, but rather a common sense reminder to eat in moderation.

Speaking of bubble tea, did we also mention that famous Taiwanese bubble tea chain Xing Fu Tang is now in Singapore?

For a list of worthy bubble tea brands that won’t make your body regret, click here.

X-RAY IMAGES: THE PAPER