Bariatric or weight loss surgery (WLS) patients are overrepresented in substance abuse treatment, constituting
about 3% of admissions; about 2/3 of such patients deny problematic substance use prior toWLS. It is important
to advance our understanding of the emergence of substance use disorders (SUDs) – particularly the New Onset
variant – after WLS. Burgeoning research with both animal models and humans suggests that “food addiction”
may play a role in certain forms of obesity, with particular risk conferred by foods high in sugar but low in fat.
Therefore, we hypothesized that WLS patients who reported pre-WLS problems with High-Sugar/Low-Fat
foods and those high on the glycemic index (GI) would be those most likely to evidence New Onset SUDs after
surgery. Secondary data analyses were conducted using a de-identified database from 154 bariatric surgery patients
(88% female, Mage = 48.7 yrs, SD = 10.8, Mtime since surgery = 2.7 yrs, SD = 2.2 yrs). Participants who endorsed
pre-surgical problems with High-Sugar/Low-Fat foods and High GI foods were at greater risk for New
Onset SUD in the post-surgical period. These findings remained significant after controlling for other predictors
of post-surgical SUD. Our findings provide evidence for the possibility of addiction transfer among certain bariatric
patients.