Well, since I posted this I can answer how I ended up there and the reason is rather simple.

We mostly use cast iron for cooking, except for cooking anything that is acidic (tomato, lime etc.) for which we use stainless steel. So, got curious if stainless steel reacts with tomato or lime or not, since after all it's a metal, an alloy but metal.

So while I was bored of doing what I was doing, searched and found this, which was new info for me. So, decided to post it..

As simple as that... :)

I was with you until “air and water pollution” as I expected the much more obvious cause of “obesity and lack of exercise”.

Some research indicates that obesity might be caused by water pollution, and the link between air pollution and lack of exercise should be clear enough.

It’s not that complicated. Obesity is because people eat too much and lack of exercise because it’s not fun.

Yeah it's absurd to worry about stainless steel pots leaking nickel in food when we all breathe heavily car polluted air daily without worry.

The reason why those nihilists "roll coal" is to make you worry. Or maybe it's activism in disguise.

the more obvious explanation are diets that arent healthy.

+1 to this and your other diet related comments. think the issue in large part is insulin resistance driven by high carb processed food and replacing fat in things with sugar thanks to the (22 - 15) countries study. fasting & keto can help someone recover... but so much polarization that people don't want to hear that either. so... think _enough_ of the science is out there at this point, but things are going to keep getting worse, more obesity, type 2 diabetes, sicker. you'd think the mortality correlation with covid would have woken more people up. oh well.