The tapioca pearls in bubble tea, also known as bubbles or boba, have a jelly-like texture and are made with tapioca starch, making it completely safe for human consumption.
It won't mess up your stomach with just one tapioca pearls. It would be digested faster than when you swallow a cube of steak. If you swallow a lot, it MAY cause some mild indigestion or mild constipation. Though, it is unlikely to happen compare to swallowing a bunch of steak cube.
"One to two cups a day should be fine, but you shouldn't consume anything in excess," advised Dr. Kushnir. "If you're drinking five or six cups a day, and you're noticing a change in your bowels, it could be a sign that you need to cut back or drink more water."
Doctors say a large amount of Tapioca starch can be difficult to digest.
One to two cups a day should be fine, but you shouldn't consume anything in excess. Drinking too much boba and getting a big blockage is kind of extreme, but, the sugar in bubble tea could contribute to constipation by making someone more dehydrated.
Bubble tea is served in see-through cups with a fat straw so that - as you sip - the tapioca balls (also known as “pearls” or “boba”) come shooting up and can be chewed as you swallow down the delicious liquid.
Dr. Kushnir added that if you're drinking only one or two cups of boba every day, you should be in the green. But, if you drink more, you could notice signs of constipation.
Boba pearls are made of tapioca starch that comes from the cassava root, so compassionate customers can rest easy knowing that gelatin is not used in the making of these tiny balls of deliciousness.
The popping Boba is very nutritious. This is because they contain both calories and carbohydrates in them. And the above add nutrients to the body once taken in.
Popping boba is popular topping for frozen yogurt. It is also often served in fruity bubble tea. Traditional boba is tapioca based, but popping boba is made from juice. The little juice spheres have an outer gel layer that is created in a process called spherification.
The short answer is yes. Bubble tea is safe for consumption if enjoyed in moderation, so an occasional cup is fine for kids and teens.
It also displayed the different sugar levels in seven types of bubble tea orders, all 500 ml. Brown sugar milk tea with boba pearls ranked the highest at 18.5 teaspoons of sugar. The drink with the lowest amount of sugar was the avocado tea with boba pearls with 7.5 teaspoons of sugar.
There is no accepted safe amount of caffeine for kids under the age of 12. When deciding whether to give a child tea that contains caffeine, experts recommend being cautious.
Boba is made from tapioca. Due to the tapioca ingredient, it means the "pearls" or "bubbles" don't dissolve quickly when expanded to their fullest. Hence, if you eat them without chewing, it can be hazardous.
“It's therefore very likely that the tapioca pearls stuck together, causing his bowel obstruction,” Haiyang told AsiaWire. The medical team observed that the objects were soft and could be crushed rather than removed surgically, so about two days after the procedure the teen was able to pass them through his stool.
In short, the answer is that bubble tea pearls are safe for you to consume and easily digested. However, tapioca is a starchy food, and eating enough of it can irritate your stomach, possibly causing constipation and stomach bloat.
Brown sugar milk tea with boba has been found as the unhealthiest option with 18.5 teaspoons of sugar. For an easy reference, a can of regular coke contains 7 teaspoons of sugar; a cup of brown sugar milk tea with pearl is equivalent to 2.6 cans of coke.
But if you love drinking bubble tea, you are actually addicted to its sugar. Did you know? Sugar is as addictive as cocaine! However, it is widely used as a 'legal drug' worldwide, as it causes addiction in the brain.
Traditional tapioca boba contains 63 calories per ounce with 15 grams of carbs and plenty of added preservatives and artificial colors. One ounce of bursting boba contains 25 calories, primarily from sugar (6 grams of total carbs and 5 grams of sugar). The carbohydrate in boba comes primarily from starch.
The boba in bubble tea is often vegan, as tapioca pearls are completely plant-based, and popping pearls are usually made of nothing more than water, sugar, fruit juice and Alginic acid (found in algae), again, making it plant-based. Once again though, you should always ask to make sure.
Regular boba has a slightly sweet, chewy texture and a neutral taste. Some people enjoy the chewy texture and find it to be a fun addition to the drink, while others may find it unappealing.
Tapioca pearls start white, hard, and rather tasteless, and then are boiled inside huge, bubbling vats and steeped in sugary caramelized syrup for hours, until eventually they're transformed into those black, springy tapioca pearls we've come to know and slurp.
Due to its sugary content, the beverage is known to also cause acne and inflammation of the skin. The tapioca pearls are high in carb and low on nutrients. They're worse when they're boiled in sugar because this can cause your skin pores to clog. Regular drinkers of boba often suffer from skin problems.
Drinking bubble tea every day keeps you hydrated
According to a Mayo Clinic article, “Caffeinated drink is a little diuretic and may cause you to urinate.” Intuitively, many people would believe that it could cause dehydration.
One serving of bubble tea will contain around ½ cup of boba pearls. You can reduce this to around ¼ cup per drink if you like fewer pearls.