Thread by @Botanygeek

OK, the ‘Modern fruit has been made unnaturally sugary by humans & is thus unhealthy’ claims are storming on into Sunday.

Many are using this comparison of wild vs modern bananas to support the idea that this *must* be true.

Here’s what the science says...

#BotanistToTheRescue

Let’s start with the ‘modern’ claim.

The hybridisation event that created the types of banana we know today happened millennia ago.

*Some* evidence suggests at least 5,000 years, in fact.

So they aren’t *that* modern, really. Unless woolly mammoths are also ‘modern’.

This hybridisation was not the result of human engineering, but thought to be a chance event that occurred in the wild.

You see, plants hybridise naturally in the wild all the time.

So not a human creation. We were just smart enough to value it.

Finally, what happens when scientists compare the edible pulp of wild & domesticated bananas (both older and newer cultivars)?

Well, they all contain a similar nutrient content, some just with lots more seeds.

But why is everyone choosing the banana?

Perhaps because it looks rather different and this makes an impressive visual.

I mean, wild apples, blackberries, pears & *ehem* cherries look almost identical, but picking these wouldn’t support this narrative.

See what I did there?🤣