The sugar content in the fruits we eat today is the result of selective breeding, not GMO. Everything is bred to look delicious and have a high sugar content. Other qualities (such as taste) are sadly secondary. The Golden Delicious apple might be the best example.

Apples are an interesting case though, since they don't breed true at all. What happens is that lots of trees are allowed to grow from promising parent stock and then occasionally a new marketable apple is discovered. That tree is then cloned by grafting cuttings to established roots.

Fuji and Gala are quite sweet, but they also stay quite crisp a long time compared to older varieties, so it isn't just sugar content. Same with Granny Smith, which are popular because they are relatively tart (while still being fairly sweet for apples).

Okay, but in a sense it is also GMO correct?

In fact it is exactly this sense that is used when people say "nearly everything is GMO these days".

https://www.cagw.org/media/wastewatcher/almost-everything-ge...

This is nothing new. Nearly all of the food we eat didn't exist in that form a few thousand years ago. "Selective breeding of both plants and animals has been practiced since early prehistory; key species such as wheat, rice, and dogs have been significantly different from their wild ancestors for millennia, and maize, which required especially large changes from teosinte, its wild form, was selectively bred in Mesoamerica." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_breeding#History

GMO are a modern, accelerated way to achieve similar goals (or ones that were previously unattainable, such as pesticide resistance). The criticism is that adding genes from other plants may have unforeseeable, potentially undesirable side effects.

> Also, these days sugar is added to everything, including genetically modified plants

Citation needed

Here are some references - perhaps you will rethink that downvote:

Corn is in many things: http://fooderyboston.com/corn-is-everywhere/

Corn has tons of added sugar through genetic tinkering, as well as many other plants: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/opinion/sunday/breedin...

Within one generation, the new extra sugary varieties eclipsed old-fashioned sweet corn in the marketplace. Build a sweeter fruit or vegetable — by any means — and we will come. Today, most of the fresh corn in our supermarkets is extra-sweet. The kernels are either white, pale yellow, or a combination of the two. The sweetest varieties approach 40 percent sugar, bringing new meaning to the words “candy corn.” Only a handful of farmers in the United States specialize in multicolored Indian corn, and it is generally sold for seasonal decorations, not food.

We’ve reduced the nutrients and increased the sugar and starch content of hundreds of other fruits and vegetables. How can we begin to recoup the losses?

>Here are some references - perhaps you will rethink that downvote:

Yeah, i'm actually surprised about this. Im not in the US, so i don't know how well it all compares with the supermarket here.

As for rethinking my downvote. It seems i can't un-downvote you. Maybe there is a time-limit?