The first meal of the day should be mid-morning, as most eat dinner later, the expert says:

This is bad news for those who wake up hungry, but the best time for breakfast is 11:00.

For anyone trying to lose weight, it’s best to wait a few hours for breakfast, according to Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London.

This is because most people eat much later than previous generations and stop eating around 9pm.

The only way to fast for 14 hours is to have breakfast at 11am, which suggests it’s the healthiest for metabolism and weight loss.

By following the strategy for a few months, people can lose between 2 kg and 5 kg (4 lbs and 11 lbs).

At the Cheltenham Science Festival, Professor Spector said: “I think we need to rethink what we say as unhealthy because there is so much new science coming out.”

After the event, he said: “There are people who eat earlier, especially in the north of England, but in general we have switched to continental eating habits and are eating much later, like people in Spain and Italy.

Even those who can’t snack until 9pm find it difficult to keep a 14-hour fast. There is a simple change people can make by shifting breakfast from 8:00 to 11:00, which is actually more effective than more trendy fasting diets like 5:2″.

Professor Spector studied the Hadza tribe of modern hunter-gatherers in Tanzania, who are not obese or have type 2 diabetes. The tribe has nothing to say for breakfast, and people start eating at 10:30 or 11:00 every day.

Among scientists, “limited eating” is increasingly being seen as a way to get healthier and lose weight.

Many people in the UK tried the 5:2 diet eating normal food for five days and then ate fewer calories for two days.

But Professor Spector said: ‘It’s easier in the long run to fast for 14 hours a day, then have breakfast, but eat the same amount overall. It works because, like us, the microbes in our gut have a circadian rhythm and need rest.’

The public was also told that the old advice not to skip breakfast could be ignored. Breakfast makes some people fat, according to Professor Spector Spoon-Fed’s book: Because almost everything we’re told about food is wrong.

His company, which collects data on coronavirus, ZOE, is proposing to test people’s blood sugar, blood fats and gut bacteria after eating a donut so they can understand how certain foods affect them.