The present study aimed to investigate the association between the content and distribution of fat in the pancreas and liver in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A total of 70 patients newly diagnosed with T2DM (T2DM group) and 30 healthy volunteers (normal control group) were enrolled in the present study. Dual-echo magnetic resonance (MR) chemical shift imaging was used to measure the fat content of the liver and the head, body and tail regions of the pancreas. In addition, the distribution of fat in the various regions of the pancreas, as well as the average fat content of the pancreas versus the liver, were compared. The fat content of the pancreatic head, body and tail regions of the T2DM group were 5.59 +/- 4.70, 4.80 +/- 3.75 and 4.89 +/- 3.86%, respectively. The fat content of these regions in the normal control group were 3.89 +/- 2.47, 3.30 +/- 2.11 and 3.23 +/- 2.23%, respectively. The average fat content of the pancreas was 5.19 +/- 3.75% for the T2DM group and 3.47 +/- 2.00% for the normal control group. The average fat content of the liver was 9.87 +/- 3.19% for the T2DM group and 7.24 +/- 2.38% for the normal control group. Therefore, the results from MR chemical shift imaging suggested that there were no significant differences in the distribution of fat between the pancreas of patients newly diagnosed with T2DM and that from the healthy population; however, the average fat content in the pancreas of the T2DM group was significantly higher (F=3.597; P<0.05), as compared with the normal control group. In addition, there was no correlation between the fat contents in the pancreas and liver in patients newly diagnosed with T2DM and the healthy population.