Elevated food cravings and higher food consumption and body weight have been reported in studies of people in recovery from substance use disorder (SUD). In a previous study, SUD recovery status predicted the energy from selected food images in a virtual buffet meal, most strongly in those with high reward responsiveness. The present study was conducted to determine which psychological variables might mediate the relationship between SUD recovery status and food selection and to replicate the finding that reward responsiveness moderated this relationship. In an online study, 216 women and men (109 in recovery from SUD) were asked to choose from among 16 food images in an all-you-can-eat buffet scenario. Food craving, impulsivity, “food addiction”, irrational food beliefs, anhedonia, and breadth of drug use were examined as potential mediators while reward responsiveness was examined as a potential moderator. The amount of energy in the selected foods was the outcome variable. Results indicated that breadth of drug use was a mediator; being in SUD recovery predicted higher variety of drug use which predicted higher food selection. However, reward responsiveness did not moderate the relationship between SUD recovery status and energy from the selected foods. Exploratory analysis indicated that lack of premeditation, a measure of impulsivity, partially mediated the relationship between breadth of drug use and energy from selected foods and fully mediated it for sweet foods. The results confirm an association between substance use and food selection and suggest a mechanism via impulsivity.

对物质使用障碍 (SUD) 康复者的研究显示，人们对食物的渴望增加，食物消耗量和体重增加。在之前的一项研究中，SUD 恢复状态可以预测虚拟自助餐中选定食物图像的能量，尤其是那些具有高奖励反应能力的人。本研究的目的是确定哪些心理变量可能介导 SUD 恢复状态和食物选择之间的关系，并重复奖励反应调节这种关系的发现。在一项在线研究中，216 名女性和男性（其中 109 名正在从 SUD 中恢复）被要求从无限量自助餐场景中的 16 种食物图像中进行选择。对食物的渴望、冲动、“食物成瘾”、不合理的食物信念、快感缺乏和吸毒的广度被视为潜在的中介因素，而奖励反应则被视为潜在的中介因素。所选食物中的能量含量是结果变量。结果表明，吸毒范围是一个中介因素；处于 SUD 恢复期预示着药物使用种类的增加，从而预示着食物选择的增加。然而，奖励反应并没有调节 SUD 恢复状态与所选食物的能量之间的关系。探索性分析表明，缺乏预谋（冲动性的一种衡量标准）部分调节了吸毒广度与所选食物的能量之间的关系，并完全调节了甜食的关系。结果证实了物质使用和食物选择之间的关联，并提出了一种通过冲动的机制。