Fatty liver disease can lead to liver failure and is often caused by obesity and a high-fat diet. Obesity is also associated with the development of type 2 diabetes, which sabotages the body's process for controlling blood sugar levels. A rapidly rising problem in the developed world, obesity currently affects over 90 million Americans.

Studying the ways in which the cytochrome P450 family of enzymes processes valproic acid, the Johns Hopkins biochemists found that it can activate the protein AMPK, which was already known to be a good drug target for treating metabolic disorders like type 2 diabetes and obesity.