PUBLISHED: 18:01 EST, 18 June 2012 | UPDATED: 18:09 EST, 18 June 2012
Undergoing weight loss surgery can increase alcohol addiction, causing previously social drinkers to develop alcoholism.
According to a new study, gastric bypass surgery, where the size of the stomach is reduced and the intestine is shortened to limit how much a person can eat, can increase the risk of alcohol-use disorders.
The new research, conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, adds to already mounting evidence of a link between alcoholism and the popular obesity-countering gastric bypass surgery.
Loosing weight and drinking more: New research reveals how undergoing weight loss surgery can increase alcohol addiction
While this link has previously been attributed to a 'shifting addiction theory,' where if a person's impulse to eat large amounts of food is taken away, they will shift this addiction to another substance, doctors say this is false.
Dr Mitchell Roslin, a bariatric surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, explained: 'A gastric bypass patient has a small pouch [for a stomach] so alcohol goes straight into the intestine and is absorbed rapidly.
'When it is absorbed rapidly, there is a high peak and rapid fall, and the higher absorption rate makes alcohol more addictive,' he added.
The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric surgery estimates that approximately 72 million people are obese in the United States and 200,000 people have bariatric surgery each year.
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Can a gastric bypass turn you into an alcoholic? Doctors warn popular weight-loss surgery could have dangerous side ...
