[jjcob]

I think people seek out these restrictions on their own. Almost everyone I know has some sort of belief about what's healthy and what isn't.

Some people become vegetarians, some people become vegans, some people believe eating big steaks of red meat is healthy, some people avoid pork, others do not eat cooked food on some days of the week, others eat only fish on special holidays, some people tell you that yoghurt is good for your gut, others tell you to avoid dairy at all cost, some tell you to avoid carbohydrates, ....

Some of these are backed by science, some are batshit crazy, some are based on individual preferences.

I don't think this is a new phenomenon. People just love coming up with rules, and even if our society allows you to eat pretty much whatever you want, people still seek out restrictions for themselves (and their kids...)

[zkmon]

You have left out the elephant in the room - the government controlling the food choice, healthcare, medicines, and overall a lifestyle. You don't have as much freedom as you would like to think.

[jjcob]

What are you talking about? Food safety regulations like requiring milk to be pasteurized?

I think that's just common sense, but at least in my home of Austria you can still easily get un-pasteurized milk if you really want. I'm not sure how the "government" controls my food choices? (In some cases I would actually prefer more regulation, because some producers make some questionable choices. I would prefer to buy cured meat without nitrates, but it's quite hard to find)

[zkmon]

Have you ever heard of obesity and variety of diseases that are mostly specific to some countries and their life style? If not you should travel to some third world countries. This is only to show you that your government is the biggest stake holder and controller of your life style, not you.

[roguecoder]

Most geographic clusters can be traced to environmental contamination, like lead or microplastics or car exhaust, or malnutrition, like why we have iodine in salt and add fluoride to water where it doesn't naturally occur.

You can grow whatever food you want, and if you want to drink maybe-deadly milk you can raise your own goats or cows. What you can't do is stochastically murder your customers.