The breakfast a top nutrition scientist eats for gut health — plus the common foods he avoids

• Nutrition scientist Tim Spector is an expert in gut health.
• He has a go-to breakfast that he eats every day, which he shared with Business Insider.

A top gut-health expert shared his go-to breakfast with Business Insider and common breakfast items that he no longer eats.

Breakfast foods such as cereal are often ultra-processed, even if they're marketed as healthy. So Dr. Tim Spector, a British epidemiologist, gut health expert, and cofounder of the science and nutrition company ZOE, has a go-to breakfast combination that he eats every morning that is balanced and gut-healthy.

"I used to have granola with some skim milk, orange juice, and tea, and I thought that was a super healthy breakfast," he said.

But since swapping to a more gut-friendly breakfast, Spector has found that he stays full "right through to lunch," and his energy levels are consistent all morning.

Here's what he now has for breakfast.

Yogurt with toppings

Spector avoids bread, granola, muesli, and cereal in the mornings because they tend to be ultra-processed and contain added sugar. UPFs have been linked to a range of health issues including increased risks of cancer and type 2 diabetes. Dr. Heidi Tissenbaum, an expert in healthy aging, previously told BI that added sugar is damaging to health and longevity.

Instead, Spector has three to four generous tablespoons of full-fat Greek yogurt mixed with about 150ml of kefir, which is fermented milk, and tops that with nuts, seeds, and fresh or frozen berries.

He uses toppings from his diversity jar, which is a handy container of assorted nuts, seeds, and dried fruits that he keeps ready to be sprinkled on meals and snacks.

He likes to have kefir in the morning because it's fermented, meaning he can check off one of the three fermented foods he tries to eat a day before he's even left the house. Fermented foods were associated with increased gut microbe diversity and decreased inflammation in a 2021 study by researchers at Stanford University, with evidence suggesting they should be a "key component of a healthy diet."

Spector drinks black coffee — but never orange juice

Orange juice is "one of the worst things you can have in the morning," Spector said, again because of the amount of sugar it contains.

Instead, he has a cup of black coffee every morning because, he said, it's a "health drink."

Coffee is "really good for your gut microbes, really good for your heart," he said. "And if you don't tolerate it well, have decaf as it's still good for your microbes."

This is because coffee contains some soluble fiber and "defense chemicals called polyphenols which are like rocket fuel for your gut microbes," he said. A 2020 review of studies published in the journal Food Frontiers suggested that polyphenols are indeed good for gut health, and also that they help prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases.

He said that even coffee with milk and sugar is beneficial, as it allows you to "drink all those good things" — he just recommended minimizing both as much as possible.

Correction: August 29, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated the amount of fiber in coffee. Coffee contains some fiber.