Headline as it runs on the site: The best time to eat breakfast for longevity, according to experts

An omelette at 6am, or mid-morning overnight oats? We asked nutritionists for their take

If popular wellness culture’s current obsession with longevity is to be matched by anything, it’s our enduring fascination with morning routines. So, naturally, there’s been a lot of interest lately in what makes the best morning routine for longevity, and how breakfast fits into that equation.

Whether or not breakfast is, in fact, “the most important meal of the day” is still up for discussion. (Intermittent fasting, for example, comes with its own set of longevity benefits.) Something that experts can agree on, however, is that if you are someone who makes time for a morning meal — as opposed to those of us who subside off coffee until lunch — timing actually does matter.

But is there, from a health perspective, a best time to eat breakfast? Should we be eating breakfast at all? If so, what should we be eating? Nutrition experts generally agree that you shouldn’t be scarfing down food as soon as you wake up – leave it a couple of hours, at least, until mid-morning.

Wait an hour or two before eating

There are a few reasons for this. One is that it extends your overnight fasting window and “gives your gut a little bit more of a rest”, says Rupy Aujla, a doctor who produces podcasts and cookbooks as The Doctor’s Kitchen. Time-restricted eating – having at least 12 hours between the last food you eat one day and the first food you eat the next – makes the body burn fat rather than carbs, and is associated with weight loss and general good metabolic health. When you first wake up, says Aujla, you should be much more focused on rehydrating with water, because “your kidney’s been working overtime” during the night. He puts a bit of salt in his water for that purpose, and doesn’t eat any proper food until around 9 or 10am.

Another reason for a late breakfast is that many people simply aren’t hungry first thing – largely, says Adam Collins, associate professor of nutrition at the University of Surrey, because your body “has already started to export glucose out into the blood in readiness for you to wake up. You’ve already got some energy in the system.”

Prioritise protein and fibre

The problem with traditional, carb-heavy breakfast foods, like cereal, toast and pastries, is that they give you “a lovely glucose spike that fuels your cells, and then you have a corresponding crash”, says Aujla. “You’re hungry [again] by mid-morning, and need coffee and other stimulants to keep yourself focused and up-and-running until lunchtime.” Instead, he recommends a meal high in protein and fibre – partly because we often generally skimp on protein, which we need “from the perspective of longevity”, and partly because protein and fibre keep us energetic and satiated through the morning.

Put a shot clock on your morning espresso

Coffee is inherently beneficial for extending healthspan, but drinking it too early (or too late) could interfere with your longevity goals. According to Dr Jennifer Timmons, a longevity physician and the founder and medical director of Timmons Wellness, it’s best to drink coffee earlier in the day — ideally before noon — to prevent the caffeine from messing with your sleep. “People metabolise caffeine at different rates,” she says. “For slow metabolisers, its effects can last up to eight hours.”

That’s not to say you should fire up the coffee maker first thing in the morning. For starters, as already mentioned, hydration should be your first priority after waking up. Yes, there is water in coffee, but you’ll essentially be taking two steps forward and one step back, as “coffee is a diuretic and can contribute to dehydration,” Dr Timmons says.

Ideally, you’ll want to wait about 60–90 minutes after waking up before you have your first cup. One reason for this is that caffeine causes cortisol levels to rise — something that also happens naturally when we wake up. “Giving your cortisol a chance to rise, unassisted by caffeine, leads to a smoother cortisol curve, rather than a rapid acceleration followed by a rapid deceleration,” Dr Timmons says.

Waiting an hour or so will not only help you avoid an afternoon energy crash, but also make the brain-boosting effects of your coffee more impactful. In the brain, caffeine binds to the same receptors as adenosine — the molecule that builds throughout the day and ultimately makes you feel sleepy. “Blocking adenosine from binding is partly how caffeine makes you feel alert,” Dr Timmons says. “From a biological standpoint, adenosine is at its lowest when you first wake up, so letting it build for an hour or so allows the caffeine to have more of the effect you’re looking for.”

Aujla has a few go-to breakfasts along these lines. In the week, he relies on overnight oats that go easy on the actual oats. “I have two tablespoons of oats, two tablespoons of milled flax seed, one tablespoon of chia and one tablespoon of hemp seeds,” he says. “Then I’ll add grated apple, some pumpkin seeds, a bit of protein powder, and then water or coconut milk or whatever. You’re matching those oats, that are quite carbohydrate rich, with [things that are] fibre and protein rich.” When he has more preparation time, he has scrambled eggs or tofu on properly seeded bread (“not like a supermarket bread that’s actually quite carb rich”), or shakshuka with lentils and avocado.

He also recommends leaning into savoury foods and simply having leftovers for breakfast. “I’ll quite happily have last night’s salmon with sweet potato, [a] bit of greens, and maybe some salad leaves,” he says. “Most of our breakfast food is antithetical to what we would have been eating as hunter gatherers – we’d just be having savoury foods the whole time.” There’s no need to load up with a massive meal – it’s your first of the day, so you need to ease into eating anyway – “but it needs to have the right nutrients”.

Do you need breakfast at all?

For many, the meal is no more than a distant memory, especially on weekdays. There is an association, says Collins, between skipping breakfast and obesity, although that’s most likely due to overweight people trying to eat less by cutting out a meal. A late-morning, protein- and fibre-packed breakfast is generally a good idea, but it might just be too logistically inconvenient. Don’t stress if you generally miss breakfast completely, he says – just make sure you compensate, nutrition-wise, with your other meals, and don’t overcompensate by overeating later in the day. “Maybe there’s some something to say about brunch,” he adds. Maybe there is indeed – what’s the real difference between a late, savoury breakfast and brunch, anyway?