When I first read this article, I had the same thought as Kent .. Good Grief! This is not news! But then I read it again, and what I see is that the researchers have identified the actual means by which insulin causes fatty acids to be stored in the fat cells. It was not known before exactly how this worked .. Now it appears that insulin regulates FATP1 and FATP4 within the fat cell, and these "transporters" are what carry the fatty acids across the cell membrane for storage .. ie, it's NOT insulin itself that moves the fatty acids into the fat cells.

I looked up Dr. Harvey F. Lodish, who headed up the research team of the above study. Great website for cellular biology buffs The Lodish Lab. His team has been busy, and a lot of interesting research ongoing in the area of insulin and fatty acid transport and metabolism.

For example, they've cloned a hormone that exists only in fat cells, ACRP30, which induces fat and glucose catabolism by muscle, enhances glycogen accumulation in muscle, and inhibits gluconeogenesis in liver. Importantly, it induces prolonged weight loss in obese mice. You can read more about it here. And, more research on how insulin signals fat cells.

I think the research is promising, but I have no doubt that any discoveries will translate into some expensive new drug to deal with it, rather than simple lifestyle changes like carb-restriction and exercise.

Doreen