[man2525]

Based on the literature I've skimmed or watched, I find the correlation between NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) and T2D interesting. It seems that fat is distributed in different people to different sites (subcutaneous, visceral, liver) at different rates. Fat in the liver can result in NAFLD. In some cases, there seems to be elevated liver enzymes (AST/ALT) for months or years prior to overt diabetic symptoms in people who also had an A1C level considered typical for prediabetes.

The following article describes research for substances that appear to protect pancreatic beta cells. It mentions that one of the substances, adipsin, is correlated with subcutaneous fat.

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/11/protein-finding-cou...

Likely, many people with T2D have excess fat regardless of where it's distributed in the body, but in places like Japan, which is claimed to have a 10% rate of T2D despite an obesity rate of 3% (probably more relevant if measured as subcutaneous fat, i'm not really sure how they measured it), it could make for interesting speculations for some of the mechanisms leading to development of T2D.