Breakfast should only be eaten after 11 a.m., an expert said.
According to nutrition expert Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, it’s best to wait a few hours before eating anything after waking up to stay healthy and lose excess pounds.
This is because most people now dine much later in the evening than previous generations and only stop eating around 9pm the night before.
Therefore, a breakfast at 11 a.m. is the best way for a person to get 14 hours of fasting at night, which growing evidence suggests is better for metabolism.
Professor Spector told an audience at the Cheltenham Science Festival: “If you have breakfast later, this will give you some benefits.
“I think we have to rethink all the things we’ve been told are unhealthy, because there’s a lot of new science coming out.”
Change your first meal late in the morning
After the talk, he said: “There are still people, especially in the north of England, who eat earlier, but in general we have moved towards continental eating habits, having dinner much later like the people of Spain and Italy.
“Even those who don’t can end up having a snack until 9pm, which makes it difficult to get a 14 – hour fast.
“There’s a simple change people can make by changing their breakfast from 8 to 11 in the morning, which is actually more effective than the more trendy fasting diets like 5: 2.”
Intermittent fasting is a popular diet technique where a person can eat whatever they want for a specific period of time each day.
However, there has been much debate about its effectiveness and what time of day a person should eat and when to stop.
A recent study found that stopping eating earlier, at 3pm, is more effective than eating in the evening, as people lose three more pounds in a five-week period.
But modern lifestyles can make this impossible, with long hours of work and heavy commutes pushing tea time later in the evening.
And Professor Spector says this should be taken into account, and the compromise is that breakfast should be delayed and turned into more of a brunch than an early meal.
Intestinal microbes need rest
“Fasting for 14 hours a day, using a breakfast later, but generally eating the same amount, is easier to achieve in the long run,” he said.
“It works because our gut microbes have a circadian rhythm like ours and need a rest period.
“Studies suggest that a later breakfast to get 14 hours of fasting could help people lose between four and 11 pounds of weight over several months of doing so.
“Their microbes are essentially more efficient at burning food.”
The expert said that people who feel voracious in the morning, or who are afraid of getting sick without having breakfast before, are likely to adapt quickly to a new routine.
Professor Spector is the co-creator of the ZOE app that was used to help keep track of Covid in the community, but he also inspects a person’s gut bacteria to find out which foods and diets are likely to work best for them.
For example, he says in his book Spoon-Fed: Why Almost Everything We’ve Been Told About Food Is Wrong, some people gain weight if they eat breakfast, with morning consumption especially treacherous for their waist.
At breakfast, Professor Spector added: “We know from our studies that everyone is different and that some people respond differently to high-carbohydrate and high-fat breakfasts, so it’s also important to understand that.”