A Bloom[berg]ing Public Health Paradigm?

The Atlantic Cities contributor Emily Badger quotes a chilling fact in "The Radical Case for Bloomberg's 'Nanny' State": "the risk factors for lifestyle-related diseases [...] are now a greater threat in the U.S. than infectious ones." We've been learning that many of these risks are socially determined and could be mitigated publicly; however, "nanny state" naysayers take offense to civil liberties when a government intervenes in the public health by, for example, raising the age to legally procure tobacco. But, as Badger asks, what defines 'freedom' here--freedom from illness, or freedom to eat, drink and smoke what we choose"?

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/12/20/1366131/teen-smoking-record-low/