Good point, I would say this is something what is much more difficult to calculate. Maybe it can fall under urban / rural lifestyle.
What I see for example, that more religious and rural-style people tend to eat better.
But in general, eating habits can be an outcome of our choices - when we marry, where we live, what is our purpose in life, etc. This is related to a fact how men live before marriage and after. Have you seen this difference?
Speaking for myself: yes, I'd probably be unhealthier without a woman in my life! Having children makes you realize your choices affect the health of others too and made me even more aware of the food I buy. We cook fresh almost every single day 😁
But some factors are not up for choice. You can choose to live in Antarctica for example, but even there you'll still get an unhealthy dosis of PFAS from precipitation. Also, here in NL where agriculture is extremely intensive, rural living can be the unhealthy choice because of pesticides exposure, especially where they grow flower bulbs.
Reality is complex
Well said, even if you don't use pesticides, your neighbor could or you might get some from atmosphere / the air.
One recent example: in NL you're now advised against eating *your own chickens eggs* because of pfas levels. PFAS accumulate especially in eggs of free ranging / organic chickens because of the worms, snails and bugs they like to eat, who in turn pick it up from contaminated soil. Because pfas doesn't degrade, the levels only ever go up until we stop producing it
It's difficult to measure these kinds of costs to society, but everyone pays for it one way or another. The profits have been privatized for the select few obviously (3M, Merck, BASF, Bayer, AGC, etc). Short term fiat mindset, further enabled by deregulation
