Often dubbed the most crucial meal of the day, breakfast is celebrated for its array of health advantages.

For years, studies have indicated that starting your day with a balanced meal—such as porridge, eggs, or yoghurt with muesli—can prevent unnecessary snacking throughout the day.

However, a prominent gut health expert has highlighted that seven common breakfast practices might be damaging your digestive health each morning.

Dr. Saurabh Sethi, a gastroenterologist trained at Harvard, shared on Instagram that skipping breakfast entirely is among the worst of these habits.

According to Dr. Sethi, a California-based physician with over 1.3 million followers, avoiding breakfast can lead to acid buildup and slow gut motility.

Research also indicates that bypassing breakfast is associated with an increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure.

Acid buildup occurs when there is an excess of stomach acid which can erode the lining of the stomach and throat, causing issues like heartburn.

If gut motility — how muscles in the digestive system contract — is too slow, this may trigger symptoms including constipation, bloating and abdominal pain. 

Dr Saurabh Sethi [pictured], a Harvard trained gastroenterologist, took to Instagram to warn that ‘skipping breakfast altogether’ was among the worst of the seven mistakes you could make

Instead, Dr Sethi claimed that people should aim to eat within the first hour of waking up. 

Equally, drinking coffee on an empty stomach is another common error people make as it raises the risk of reflux.

Research has long suggested this is because caffeine can stimulate the stomach to produce more acid, leading to reflux symptoms such as heartburn, nausea or vomiting, chronic coughing, bad breath and bloating.

‘Drink a glass of water before your coffee and have a light snack like nuts or a banana,’ Dr Sethi said. 

People should also avoid consuming ‘sugary breakfast cereals and granola’ because they are ‘loaded with refined sugars’, he added.

This may cause ‘blood-sugar to spike’, making it more likely people will suffer energy crashes mid morning. 

To combat this, people should instead opt for ‘oats, chia [seeds] and berries’, he added as oats are low in sugar, while the berries still give some natural sweetness.

Another common breakfast error is partaking in the ‘high-fat “bulletproof” coffee trend’, he said. 

Instead of eating sugary cereals he recommended having oats with chia seeds and berries

Longevity influencers have long advocated for the trend, also known as butter coffee, which involves mixing black coffee with butter and coconut oil.

They claim the drink’s high-fat content boosts their energy, improves their concentration and helps them maintain a healthy weight by preventing hunger and sustaining energy levels throughout the morning.

But multiple recent studies have found that the trend provided no significant improvement in cognition, alertness or energy levels compared to regular coffee.

The drink has ‘no fibre or protein’, Dr Sethi also said, putting people at risk of quickly becoming hungry and potentially suffering acid reflux.  

He recommended ‘adding protein and fiber for a balanced start’, such as having eggs and whole wheat bread for breakfast.

Eating breakfast on the go, meanwhile, was the fifth breakfast mistake.

The habit, Dr Sethi claimed, could make the body more stressed, meaning ‘less digestive enzymes are released’ which can cause ‘bloating’.

Instead, chewing slowly while sitting down is more beneficial for digestion because it boosts saliva production and helps the release of enzymes that help break down food.

Equally, ‘overdoing’ it by consuming different juices may cause people to intake ‘too much sugar’ putting them at risk of flatulence because of increased gut fermentation. 

It is better, Dr Sethi said, to ‘use whole fruit’ or ‘blend fruit and veggies’ for a more ‘balanced smoothie’ with less sugar.

Finally, ‘ignoring hydration in the morning’ would prevent the gut from functioning properly because it ‘needs water to move things along’, he added.

To start the day right and prevent painful problems like constipation, a glass of water before anything else’ was key, he added.