Eating breakfast at 11am could 'transform your health and life', experts claim

A doctor has claimed that breakfast should be eaten after 11am in order to aid weight loss - and another expert has shared that not eating until that time can add 20 years to your life

Are you a breakfast-eating early bird?

According to nutritional expert Prof Tim Spector, that might be where you're going wrong in your weight loss journey. Speaking at last year's Cheltenham Literary Festival, the King's College professor and founder of the Zoe health app has proposed waiting until after 11am to break your fast could be beneficial for those looking to slim down.

"If you have a later breakfast, that will give you some benefits," he suggested to journalists. You might need to bin what you've thought to be unhealthy, as Dr Spector insists new research is changing the game: "I think we have to rethink all the things we have been told are unhealthy, because there's just so much new science coming out."

The expert noted that while diets have altered over time with many partaking in suppers akin to our European neighbours - noshing late into the evening like Spaniards or Italians - it's proving tough to manage the ideal 14-hour fast.

He points out: "There are still people, particularly in the north of England, who eat earlier, but generally we have moved towards continental eating habits, having dinner much later like people in Spain and Italy. Even those who don't do that may end up snacking up until 9pm, making it difficult to achieve a 14-hour fasting period."

His advice? Swap your 8am cereal for an 11am munch - apparently more potent than trendy fasts like the 5:2 diet. TikToker Kathy Ooritz took his advice to heart by tweaking her eating window: "I don't eat breakfast until after 11am and I stop eating at 7pm," she shared, adding anecdotal evidence of its success: "What worked for me might not work for you but this is how I lost weight in only three weeks."

She shed 10lbs and has a strict dietary routine, revealing: "For breakfast I eat avocado and egg on wheat bread with my iced coffee. For lunch I eat rice, chicken and beans or a chicken salad. And for dinner I eat a wheat bread sandwich with ham and lettuce and drink [nutritional beverage] Bloom to fill me up."

The disciplined eater also said, "I don't eat after 7pm but if I want a snack I eat a brownie bar with only 70 calories and drink a lot of water. I do workouts for 25 minutes, four days a week on a StairMaster."

Speaking on ITV's This Morning, neuroscientist Dr Julia Jones, the author of 'F-Bomb Longevity Made Easy', touted the benefits of a late breakfast around 11am as a life-extending habit. Dr Jones remarked: "Just to give our system a rest, so try and leave 16 hours overnight, fasting, and then eat within an eight-hour period.

"A lot of research is now showing that we're just eating too often, and we're eating the wrong things obviously, but we're eating too often. To give your digestive system a rest, and let other cellular pathways and important housekeeping processes kick in, can help reset those cells."

However, it is crucial to note that intermittent fasting or skipping meals might not be suitable for everyone. Side effects such as feeling "dizzy, irritable... headaches, and [difficulty] concentrating" have been reported, warns the British Dietetic Association.