A 43-year-old Winnipeg researcher, Dr. Dylan MacKay, wears a tattoo sleeve depicting key moments in insulin’s discovery. His design includes a dog from Frederick Banting and Charles Best’s lab, handwritten notes from their original notebooks, and an early insulin vial produced at the University of Toronto.
MacKay has type 1 diabetes, which he was diagnosed with at the age of 13. He remembers being extremely thirsty and hungry all the time, despite eating a lot. After seeing an ad from the Canadian Diabetes Association, he realized he might have diabetes and asked his mom to take him to the doctor.
MacKay’s diagnosis set him on a path to lead research in diabetes and related fields. He participated in the Diabetes Canada Pump Couture fashion show in Winnipeg, where people with lived experience model clothing along with their diabetes wearable devices and injection scars.
Science Guided by Personal Experience
MacKay’s journey with type 1 diabetes started in his hometown of St. John’s, Newfoundland. He was an active teenager, playing hockey, soccer, and basketball, but he was always hungry and thirsty. He filled a 2-liter pop bottle with water and drank it all, only to still feel thirsty.
He developed a passion for cooking and gardening, growing his own vegetables and fruits. He also met his wife during his master’s studies, and she is now a nurse practitioner and director of the nurse practitioner program at the University of Manitoba.
Research Focus Unfolds
MacKay’s research focuses on nutrition interventions for type 1 and type 2 diabetes, as well as related conditions like obesity and chronic kidney disease. He is particularly interested in the concept of type 2 diabetes remission, where people can manage the condition with lifestyle changes and require no medication.
MacKay’s team has partnered with local grocers to deliver bicarbonate-rich fruits and vegetables to people’s homes weekly for a year. The goal is to treat metabolic acidosis, a condition that occurs in chronic kidney disease, and reduce the progression of the disease.
The intervention is appealing because it makes eating a healthy diet easier for people. MacKay notes that telling people to change their behavior often doesn’t work, but delivering healthy food to their doorstep can make a difference. He is mindful that people are complex, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution to managing chronic diseases.
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MacKay loves the human element of leading research, collaborating with his team, and interacting with graduate students and staff. He believes that science and research are about exploring the unknown and trying to answer questions, which he finds exciting and rewarding.
Community Drives Progress
MacKay’s experience with type 1 diabetes has taught him the importance of community and working together. He is alive because of the efforts of other researchers, dogs, and people who have worked to find ways to manage the condition. He believes that humans have survived and accomplished what they have because they work together and are communal.
MacKay’s current work is supported by Diabetes Canada and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. He has worked on trials to look at postprandial glucose response and has led the lab at the University of Manitoba in clinical trials on nutrition interventions for type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
He is connected to many kidney doctors in Manitoba who are interested in nutrition interventions, and he is exploring the use of bicarbonate-rich fruits and vegetables to treat metabolic acidosis.
Trial Results Emerging
MacKay’s research team has been looking at the effectiveness of delivering fruits and vegetables to people’s homes as an intervention compared to sodium bicarbonate tablets. They have been studying this intervention for a year, and the results are promising, with participants showing improvements in their metabolic acidosis and chronic kidney disease management.
The trial has been conducted in Winnipeg and Halifax, and MacKay’s team has been working with local grocers to deliver the fruits and vegetables to participants’ homes. They have been monitoring the participants’ progress and collecting data on the effectiveness of the intervention.
With his team, MacKay is currently analyzing the data from the trial and preparing to publish the results.
