Although previous studies (Meuillet et al. 1999a, b) implicated that cholesterol supplementation causes a reduction in plasma membrane fluidity, we herein show that cholesterol also alters cellular metabolism by redirecting glucose-derived acetyl-CoA towards fatty acid palmitate synthesis, a change through which metformin gains its contextual efficacy to inhibit FAS, an important target to control cancer cell proliferation (Little and Kridel 2008; Menendez and Lupu 2007). This evidence concerns the gene FAS and cancer.