Hybrids...what are they and why are they bad?

[Raene]

Why are some raw foodists anti-hybrid fruit, and also...where can I find a list of what's hybridized? Thank you.

[Ilse W.]

Are you asking about fruits you buy in the store or seeds to grow stuff yourself? As far as seeds go, it will tell you on the package. Same when you buy tomato plants and such. Fruits and vegetables at the store? Would be pretty difficult, since they don't tell you the names. You would have to go buy your stuff at the farmers' market, and the growers will be able to tell you what they grew, heirloom or hybrids. I would imagine that a lot of the small organic growers use heirloom seeds so that they can save seeds from season to season. On major things like apples, google "heirloom apple varieties" or some such. The major reason why I don't like hybrids is that they select for something like looks, size, or resistance to some bug. In the process flavor and nutritional value may get lost.

[coco]

i think that the term "hybrid" is often confused with "genetically modified" when they are not the same thing at all. the process of hybridization is a natural one that occurs in nature all the time and can be duplicated by any gardener. it is simply a cross breeding of plants to attain certain characteristics like hardiness, natural resistance to insects and rot, etc. these are all good things, the only arguement against them that i can fathom is that by putting our hand to it it isn't exactly what nature would do but even that is very thin. it is possible that wild foods in their strictly "natural" state are hardier and therefore have more life-force or whatever but there are tons of wild foods that you can eat along with the so-called hybridized foods if this is a concern.
hybridized food groups would include any produce grown by gardeners or farmers including heirloom varieties which are certainly bred to encourage certain characteristics. the only way to avoid them is to grow your own from only wild seed sources. but you can easily avoid genetically modified foods (that is the process of incorporating say, scorpion dna into tomatoes or fish dna into corn) by buying organic or asking the produce manager where you shop for that info.

[Ilse W.]

Hybrids ARE different in that you cannot use their seeds the following season. They either don't fruit at all, or they don't fruit true to original. That's the main reason there are so many hybrids now. The gardener has to buy new seeds every year. So there is a HUGE difference. Coco, you are talking about cross-breeding, not hybridizing.

[saxmaam]

If you plant the seeds from hybrid fruits and vegetables, the resulting fruit probably won't be like the fruit you just ate. It means a gardener or farmer has to buy seed from a producer of hybrid seed if they want to grow a hybrid variety.

Another reason is nutritional differences between hybrids and older varieties of fruits and vegetables. Some are bred for toughness on the trip to the market as opposed to good flavor or nutrition. Some are chosen because all of the fruit ripen at once for convenience of picking, again sacrificing food value. Others are bred for very high sugar content, which of course has a blood sugar consequence.

So there are a lot of people who would like to see heirloom fruits and vegetables -- grown for flavor and variety and producing true and viable seed -- continue to exist in the world.

[iamacranberry]

A hybrid is simply a plant that's been cross-bred. It's not necessarily bad. What is a problem is, as has already been mentioned, when a plant is intentionally bred to produce a specific characteristic while ignoring the slow disappearance of many other desirable traits, such as better nutrition, taste, etc.

[coco]

no, i mean HYBRID. it is essentially the same thing as cross breeding.

here is the wiki definition for you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_breeding
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_(biology)

In biology, hybrid has two meanings.[1] The first meaning is the result of interbreeding between two animals or plants of different taxa. Hybrids between different species within the same genus are sometimes known as interspecific hybrids or crosses. Hybrids between different sub-species within a species are known as intra-specific hybrids. Hybrids between different genera are sometimes known as intergeneric hybrids. Extremely rare interfamilial hybrids have been known to occur (such as the guineafowl hybrids). The second type of hybrid consists of crosses between populations, breeds or cultivars within a single species. This second meaning is often used in plant and animal breeding. In plant and animal breeding, hybrids are commonly produced and selected because they have desirable characteristics not found or inconsistently present in the parent individuals or populations. This rearranging of the genetic material between populations or races is often called hybridization.

[Inca_faerie]

Hybridized produce also contains more sugar than non hybridized produce. Pretty much all seedless fruit is hybridized.

[Ilse W.]

I LOOOOOVE heirloom tomatoes. There must be hundreds of them, one better than the next. They leave modern hybrids in the dust!

[Raene]

I guess the sugar aspect is what I've heard of...as in, people who don't eat bananas b/c they are all hybrids...?? I don't understand why still.

[Riiiya]

as far as i know, it's easy to identify a hybrid- their code (that 4-5 digit number) starts with a 3. When it starts with a 4 it's non hybrid.

now i'm pretty sure this is accurate, if not then plz correct me :o

P.S. i try to stay away from hybrid because
1. it's higher in sugars than naturally should be
2. it's lower in nutrients than naturally should be
also- Wolfe talks about how these "confused" hybrid fruits confuse the body.. it's an interesting idea to me

[Raene]

I don't think that can be true, just b/c if bananas are always hybrids, they start with 4011.

[Riiiya]

I don't think that can be true, just b/c if bananas are always hybrids, they start with 4011.


oh oooooops sorry! i meant GMO not hybrid. i'm just confused today hehe :D

[Ilse W.]

3-GMO
4-Conventionally grown
9-organically grown

[iamacranberry]

I still must stand by what I said before...in that not all hybrids are bad; only often when plants are bred to accentuate a certain characteristic, others are often lost in the process. If I cross a red tomato with a yellow one, guess what...it's a hybrid. And I'll eat it, too.

[shashibala]

Here are my two cents from my limited knowledge!

Many hybridized foods have been selected to be ultra sweet because this is what people like to eat. This selection and cross breeding is only a problem because, just like when we select for foods that are more hardily transported, we can lose some of the other important characteristics like nutrition. Also, when we select for sweetness beyond what is naturally occurring, some believe that the excess sugar in the resulting fruit is damaging to our bodies. Most foods we eat are hybrids. I am not clear about why some hybrids produce viable seed and others do not.

The hybrid banana, a cross between two other types of banana, does not produce seeds. It is propagated by growing the shoots of the banana tree itself. These shoots can be transported to other places to grow more bananas. I read at one place that all bananas available here are clones of one banana. (?)
Older varieties of banana contained big seeds and not much flesh. The type of banana that we eat today is in danger from a plant disease, a fungus I think.
Banana cultivation is controversial because of pesticide and fungicide use, some use of chemicals to ripen unripe fruit, water use, deforestation issues, and poor working conditions.

[iamacranberry]

There do exist SOME hybrids which are specifically bred not to produce seed. However, this is not true of all hybrids, and it would be unwise to label all hybrids as undesirable or dangerous because of this.

[Rinda]

Hybrids ARE different in that you cannot use their seeds the following season. They either don't fruit at all, or they don't fruit true to original. That's the main reason there are so many hybrids now. The gardener has to buy new seeds every year. So there is a HUGE difference.

Absolutely right!!!

[Rinda]

P.S. i try to stay away from hybrid because
1. it's higher in sugars than naturally should be
2. it's lower in nutrients than naturally should be
also- Wolfe talks about how these "confused" hybrid fruits confuse the body.. it's an interesting idea to me

I totally agree!

Hybrids can pick up only a small amount of nutrients in the soil. However, open-pollinated/heirlooms can pick up a vast amount of nutrients available in the soil.

[iamacranberry]

The past two replies before this one are, again, true of some hybrids but not all.