[CURIOSITIES] Apples are getting sweeter and a few centuries ago they were as sweet as a carrot

[YaKuZa--BoSs]

 

 

 

Excess sugar consumption is a problem in more developed countries. A single can of soda may already have half of all the recommended daily sugar for an adult.

The irony is that if half a liter of soda can contain the equivalent of 13 teaspoons of sugar, three apples do, too, because apples have been getting sweeter.

Apples from Shakespeare's time

The difference between a soft drink and three apples is that, although the first option does not provide any nutritional value, the second provides vitamins, minerals and fiber, and is also more satiating.

So it is advisable to eat apples, even if they have a lot of sugar.

 

However, apples used to not have as much sugar, as Daniel E. Lieberman explains in his book The History of the Human Body. And not just apples. All modern fruits have been selectively cultivated to be much more sugary by artificial selection by farmers.

 

Apples from a few centuries ago were probably as sweet as a carrot. In fact, the old carrots were not like the current ones either, as we already explained: Carrots are orange thanks to the patriotism of the Netherlands:

 

The oldest known evidence of the use of carrots by humans in Afghanistan dates back to 3,000 BC. C. Those carrots were purple on the outside and yellow on the inside.

 

According to a study by University of Texas biochemist Donald Davis, even in the 1950s many fruits were already different. The current ones, in comparison, are 50% poorer in iron and with 12% less calcium and 15% vitamin A.