Reviewed by Dr. Karen Hutchins Pirnot for Readers' Favorite

It's Not Your Fault: Weight Fain, Obesity and Food Addiction by husband and wife team Emanuel Barling and Ashley Brooks details how chemical additives in the food of the majority of Americans has led to numerous illnesses, addictions and obesity. The authors make the claim that the overweight and obese are not exhibiting maladaptive behavioral characteristics; rather, the genetically engineered foods they are consuming are leading to addictions which cause them to overeat due to chemical alterations of the brain. They explain how the blood-brain barrier is allowing various toxic chemicals into the brain and how those chemicals are altering brain functions which control appetite and susceptibility to physical disorders, such as diabetes and various gastrointestinal disorders.

The book takes the readers through common food additives such as MSG, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, salt, trans fatty acids and genetically modified fruits and vegetables as contributors to brain alterations which result in obesity. They further explain how these toxins can affect pregnant women and their children. The authors appropriately document their contention that it is the toxic body chemicals, and not behavioral dysfunction, which result in obesity and other physical illnesses.

This is a highly informative and educational book which should be studied by most households. However, the reader is appropriately cautioned by the authors that the statements in the book have not been substantiated by the Food and Drug Administration. The book is written in a highly readable format which goes step by step in explaining how the authors concluded that using a totally organic diet is the key to maintaining body health. My only issue with the book was that the twelve step program to body health was but a small portion of the book, and the reader must then buy another book to get the full program.