You knew the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil are good for you. Now scientists… (Kirk McKoy/Los Angeles…)

This is a corrected version of the original post; see the note below.

You’ve probably heard of omega-3 fatty acids, the nutrients that make fish oil so healthy. You may even have heard of particular ones, such as DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), ALA (alpha-linolenic acid) or EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid).

But unless you’re one of the scientists who worked on a study being published in Friday’s edition of the journal Cell, you surely have no idea why omega-3 fatty acids are so good at tamping down inflammation and enhancing sensitivity to insulin. The study is rather dense, so we’ll do our best to boil it down for you.

Researchers from UC San Diego, Tethys Bioscience of West Sacramento, and Shiga University of Medical Science in Japan figured out that omega-3s stimulate an important cell signaling molecule known as GPR120. This molecule is particularly popular in fat cells. It’s also abundant in a type of white blood cells that promote inflammation. Normally, inflammation helps the immune system do its job, but when inflammation becomes chronic it can lead to problems like insulin insensitivity.