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Today, bananas are no longer as economically vital in Central America,and United Fruit Company, rechristened Chiquita,has lost its stranglehold on Latin American politics.But the modern banana industry isn’t without problems.Cavendish bananas require frequent applications of pesticides that create hazards for farmworkers and ecosystems.And though they’re resistant to the particular pathogen that affected Gros Michel bananas,Cavendish farms also lack biological diversity,leaving the banana trade ripe for another pandemic.

The company launched propaganda campaigns against Arbenz and called on its deep connections in the US Government for help.Citing fears of communism,the CIA orchestrated the overthrow of the democratically elected Arbenz in 1954.That same year in Honduras, thousands of United Fruit workers went on strike until the company agreed to recognize a new labor union.With the political and economic costs of running from Panama Disease escalating,United Fruit finally switched from Gros Michel to Panama disease-resistant Cavendish bananas in the early 1960s.

The companies then felled extensive tracts of rainforests in order to establish new plantations.After World War II,the dictatorships with which United Fruit had partnered in Guatemala and Honduras yielded to democratically elected governments that called for land reform.In Guatemala, President Jacobo Arbenz tried to buy back land from United Fruit and redistribute it to landless farmers.The Arbenz government offered to pay a price based on tax records—where United Fruit had underreported the value of the land.El Pulpo was not happy.

That’s exactly what happened in the 1910s,when a fungus began to level Gros Michel banana plantations,first in Panama, and later throughout Central America,spreading quickly via the same system that had enabled big profits and cheap bananas.In a race against “Panama Disease,”banana companies abandoned infected plantations in Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala,leaving thousands of farmers and workers jobless.

Lured by relatively high-paying jobs,people migrated to banana zones.From Guatemala to Colombia,United Fruit’s plantations grew exclusively Gros Michel bananas.These densely packed farms had little biological diversity,making them ripe for disease epidemics.The infrastructure connecting these vulnerable farms could quickly spread disease:pathogens could hitch a ride from one farm to another on workers’ boots,railroad cars, and steamships.

In order to secure access to land,banana moguls lobbied and bribed government officials in Central America,and even funded coups to ensure they had allies in power.In Honduras, Manuel Bonilla repaid the banana man who had financed his return to power with land concessions.By the 1930s, one company dominated the region: United Fruit,who owned over 40% of Guatemala’s arable land at one point.They cleared rainforest in Costa Rica,Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras,and Panama to build plantations,along with railroads, ports, and towns to house workers.

They began to experiment with bananas,purchasing one kind,called Gros Michel, from Afro-Caribbean farmers in Jamaica, Cuba, and Honduras.Gros Michel bananas produced large bunches of relatively thick-skinned fruit—ideal for shipping.By the end of the 1800s, bananas were a hit in the US.They were affordable, available year-round,and endorsed by medical doctors.As bananas became big business,U.S. fruit companies wanted to grow their own bananas.

The infamous El Pulpo was a U.S. corporation trafficking in, of all things,bananas.It was officially known as United Fruit Company—or Chiquita Brands International today.First cultivated in Southeast Asia thousands of years ago,bananas reached the Americas in the early 1500s,where enslaved Africans cultivated them in plots alongside sugar plantations.There were many different bananas,most of which looked nothing like the bananas in supermarket aisles today.In the 1800s, captains from New Orleans and New England ventured to the Caribbean in search of coconuts and other goods.

On a December night in 1910, the exiled former leader of Honduras,Manuel Bonilla, boarded a borrowed yacht in New Orleans.With a group of heavily armed accomplices,he set sail for Honduras in hopes of reclaiming power by whatever means necessary.Bonilla had a powerful backer,the future leader of a notorious organization known throughout Latin America as El Pulpo, or the Octopus, for its long reach.

For instance, we don't currently know whether these foods are directly responsible for the changes in diversity,or if something more complicated is happening.While we're only beginning to explore the vast wilderness inside our guts,we already have a glimpse of how crucial our microbiomes are for digestive health.The great news is we have the power to fire up the bacteria in our bellies.Fill up on fibers,fresh and fermented foods,and you can trust your gut to keep you going strong.

Yogurt is another fermented food that can introduce helpful bacteria into our guts.That doesn't necessarily mean that all yogurt is good for us, though.Brands with too much sugar and not enough bacteria may not actually help.These are just general guidelines.More research is needed before we fully understand exactly how any of these foods interact with our microbiomes.We see positive correlations,but the insides of our guts are difficult places to make direct observations.

There are also ways of preparing food that can actually introduce good bacteria,also known as probiotics,into your gut.Fermented foods are teeming with helpful probiotic bacteria,like lactobacillus and bifidobacteria.Originally used as a way of preserving foods before the invention of refrigeration,fermentation remains a traditional practice all over the world.Foods like kimchi,sauerkraut,tempeh,and kombucha provide variety and vitality to our diets.

These foods contain polyphenols,which are naturally occurring antioxidant compounds.On the other hand,foods high in dairy fat,like whole milk, and sugar-sweetened sodas were correlated with decreased diversity.How food is prepared also matters.Minimally processed, fresh foods generally have more fiber and provide better fuel.So lightly steamed,sautéed,or raw vegetables are typically more beneficial than fried dishes.

So what goes wrong with our gut bacteria when we eat low-fiber processed foods?Lower fiber means less fuel for the gut bacteria,essentially starving them until they die off.This results in less diversity and hungry bacteria.In fact, some can even start to feed on the mucus lining.We also know that specific foods can affect gut bacteria.In one recent microbiome study,scientists found that fruits,vegetables,tea,coffee,red wine,and dark chocolate were correlated with increased bacterial diversity.

And the more fiber you ingest,the more fiber-digesting bacteria colonize your gut.In a recent study, scientists exchanged the regular high-fiber diets of a group of rural South Africans with the high-fat, meat-heavy diets of a group of African-Americans.After just two weeks on the high-fat,low-fiber, Western-style diet,the rural African group showed increased inflammation of the colon,as well as a decrease of butyrate.That's a short chain fatty acid thought to lower risk of colon cancer.Meanwhile, the group that switched to a high-fiber, low-fat diet had the opposite result.

And while we can't control all these factors,we can manipulate the balance of our microbes by paying attention to what we eat.Dietary fiber from foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, and whole grains is the best fuel for gut bacteria.When bacteria digest fiber,they produce short chain fatty acids that nourish the gut barrier,improve immune function,and can help prevent inflammation,which reduces the risk of cancer.

We don't yet have the blueprint for exactly which good bacteria a robust gut needs,but we do know that it's important for a healthy microbiome to have a variety of bacterial species.Many factors affect our microbiomes,including our environment,medications like antibiotics,and even whether we were delivered by C-section or not.Diet, too, is emerging as one of the leading influences on the health of our guts.

Trillions of bacteria, viruses, and fungi live on or inside of us,and maintaining a good, balanced relationship with them is to our advantage.Together, they form the gut microbiome,a rich ecosystem that performs a variety of functions in our bodies.The bacteria in our guts can break down food the body can't digest,produce important nutrients,regulate the immune system,and protect against harmful germs.