[danuker]

> the more egalitarian societies and health care systems

As someone from Romania, I believe that is true. But since joining the EU, we've also seen changes in food laws, which have a large impact on health.

For example, recently it became mandatory to label citrus fruit when it was treated with preservatives, to know whether the peel is edible. People used to consume the peel regardless; now more people are aware.

There is also an important difference between "flavorings" and "natural flavorings". For instance, artificial butter flavoring causes "popcorn lung".

[samatman]

Your last paragraph goes off the rails a bit, the diacetyl in ordinary butter is no better for your lungs than its synthetic equivalent. If there's a difference it's the amount of exposure, not whether the identical molecule comes from in vitro synthesis rather than in vivo.

[danuker]

Thank you, I did not know this. I know that factory workers exposed to concentrated diacetyl are more affected.

I suppose it matters how much of the flavor escapes into the air, but I did not know that it is naturally present in butter.

That said, butter comes with its own issues. For example, 14g/day is associated with a 1% reduction in life expectancy - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4927102/