Jeff Letourneau Forages for Dietary Fiber Clues
It’s a muggy morning in late August in Durham, N.C.—the temperature has already hit 85 degrees by 9 a.m.—and Jeff Letourneau is headed into the woods. The PhD student in Duke’s Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology is out looking for pawpaws—the green, mango-sized fruit with a creamy yellow center. He uses them to make a variety of foods and beverages for his family, including smoothies, custard, and even beer. Often, he just slices them open and eats them plain after being chilled in the refrigerator.
“They have a mango-banana taste,” he says. “They’re delicious.” The largest native fruit in North America, pawpaws can be found growing on trees in wooded areas in central North Carolina during their peak season of late August and early September. Like many wild foods, says Letourneau, most people don’t notice them or realize their nutritional value.
His interest in wild food foraging, which intensified during the pandemic last year, goes far beyond the convenience of free local food. As a budding scientist in the lab of Lawrence David, PhD, associate professor of molecular genetics and microbiology, Letourneau studies the effects of a high-fiber diet on human health.