Is an addiction to food and eating worse than a addiction to alcohol and drugs?

There are many types of addictions that can be detrimental on your body. Eating disorders have a vast number of medical complications. Sometimes they can even lead to death. There are also many medical and health consequences in alcohol and drug abuse. I cannot say that either is worse because all have a negative effect on your health.

Obviously in the short term it's not, but overeating and food addiction can have long term negative effects on the body.

They're very similar in a lot of ways. Both kinds of addictions will erode the quality of your life and affect what you can and can't do. Being overweight or obese can severely limit your ability to perform everyday activities just like substance abuse can. They also both can have severe health repercussions, although the consequences of drug and alcohol addiction might be more immediate. Drugs are very hard on the body and addicts are always at a risk of overdosing, but being obese is also dangerous and is associated with diseases like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and even cancer.

Is one addiction worse than another? In my opinion, it really comes down to the impact the particular addiction has on the life of an addict, and this varies tremendously depending on the substance abused and many other factors. Some people with a food addiction may be worse off than some alcoholics, while some meth addicts may be worse off than some food addicts. I'd say it just depends.