Wait…Is Whole Milk Actually Good for You Now?

Summary

Chasing Life Podcast Summary
Episode: Wait…Is Whole Milk Actually Good for You Now?
Release Date: May 20, 2025
Host: Dr. Sanjay Gupta
Produced by: CNN Audio

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Introduction

In this episode of Chasing Life, Dr. Sanjay Gupta delves into two intriguing health questions from listeners. The primary focus centers on the nutritional benefits of whole milk versus skim milk, supplemented by expert insights from renowned nutritionist Dr. Tim Spector. The episode also addresses a listener's concern about disturbing dreams and sleep disturbances, featuring perspectives from neuroscientist Siddhartha Ribeiro.

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1. Whole Milk vs. Skim Milk: Unpacking the Nutritional Debate

Listener Question: Kevin from Orlando asks whether he should choose whole milk or skim milk, expressing concerns about fat intake and long-term health implications. (Timestamp: [01:47])

Dr. Gupta’s Response:
Dr. Gupta acknowledges the complexity of choosing the right type of milk, emphasizing the importance of aligning choices with individual nutritional goals. He shares his personal experience of increasing milk consumption to address low calcium levels, highlighting a broader trend of decreasing milk intake in adulthood.

Key Points Discussed:

• Nutritional Differences:
  Dr. Gupta explains that not all milk alternatives are nutritionally equivalent. For instance, only soy milk fortified with calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin D matches the nutritional profile of dairy milk, according to U.S. dietary guidelines. He advises listeners to meticulously read labels, focusing on protein, vitamin D, calcium, and potassium levels, while being cautious of added sugars and saturated fats.

• Whole Milk Considerations:
  While whole milk contains higher saturated fat (4.5 grams per cup, about 20% of the daily recommended limit), Dr. Gupta argues that saturated fat is necessary in moderation. He challenges the blanket recommendation to prefer low-fat or fat-free milk, suggesting that whole milk may be a better option compared to sugary beverages or highly processed low-fat products.

Expert Insight:
Dr. Tim Spector, a renowned nutritionist, weighs in on the discussion:

"Extra virgin olive oil is probably the most healthy cooking ingredient in the world... infused with up to 14% saturated fat, it's mixed with other healthy fats." (Timestamp: [05:31])
Dr. Spector emphasizes that full-fat dairy can be part of a balanced diet and warns against the additives in low-fat products, which often contain sugary starches and emulsifiers that may negatively impact gut health and contribute to overeating.

Conclusion for Kevin:
Dr. Gupta concludes that whole milk, consumed in moderation, can be a nutritious component of the diet, especially when contrasted with alternative options that may lack essential nutrients or contain harmful additives. He advises checking nutritional labels to ensure adequate intake of vitamins and minerals.

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2. Understanding Dreams and Sleep Disturbances

Listener Question: Sarah from Connecticut shares her experience of screaming during sleep, prompting her to inquire whether it's healthier to continue dreaming or to wake up. (Timestamp: [10:37])

Dr. Gupta’s Response:
He begins by referencing a previous podcast episode on dreaming to provide context before diving into Sarah's concern.

Expert Insight:
Siddhartha Ribeiro, an internationally recognized neuroscientist specializing in memory, sleep, and dreaming, provides foundational knowledge:

"Dreams are the product of the reactivation of memories... they reflect your fears and desires, your challenges." (Timestamp: [11:13])
Ribeiro advocates for valuing and interpreting dreams as they play a significant role in mental health and resilience.

Phases of Sleep and Their Impact on Dreams:

1. Non-REM Sleep (Stages 1-3):

   • Stages 1 & 2: Light sleep with brief periods of dreaming.
   • Stage 3 (Slow Wave Sleep): Minimal dreaming; waking from this stage results in vague thoughts.

2. REM Sleep:

   • Active Dreaming: Intense and vivid dreams occur during this phase, accompanied by temporary muscle paralysis to prevent physical movement.

Differentiating Nightmares and Night Terrors:

• Nightmares:
  Occur during REM sleep, typically later in the night. Individuals can recall their content and are usually alert upon waking.

• Night Terrors:
  Happen during non-REM sleep, especially in the early hours. They involve intense distress without memory of the event and may include physical manifestations like screaming or thrashing.

Recommendations for Managing Sleep Disturbances:

• Nightmares:
  Encouraged to discuss dreams with trusted individuals to aid in processing and achieving more restful sleep.

• Night Terrors:
  Advises against waking the individual as it may exacerbate the episode. Instead, ensuring the person's safety is paramount. If frequent, seeking professional help is recommended. Techniques like Imagery Rehearsal Therapy can help by reimagining and altering the narrative of nightmares.

Dr. Gupta’s Final Thoughts:
He encourages listeners experiencing recurring night terrors to consider therapeutic interventions and assures that understanding the nature of these sleep disturbances can lead to improved sleep quality and overall well-being.

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Conclusion

In this episode, Dr. Sanjay Gupta provides thoughtful and evidence-based responses to listeners' health inquiries. The discussion on whole versus skim milk challenges conventional dietary recommendations by highlighting the importance of nutrient density and the potential drawbacks of processed low-fat options. Additionally, the exploration of sleep disturbances underscores the complexity of sleep physiology and the significance of addressing both nightmares and night terrors appropriately. Through engaging dialogue and expert insights, Dr. Gupta empowers listeners to make informed decisions about their health.

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Notable Quotes:

• Dr. Tim Spector:

  "These products are heavily processed... they cause more sugar spikes, they're bad for your gut microbes and really should be avoided." (Timestamp: [06:25])

• Siddhartha Ribeiro:

  "Dreams are the product of the reactivation of memories... they reflect your fears and desires, your challenges." (Timestamp: [11:13])

• Dr. Spector on Low-Fat Products:

  "They've replaced the fat with sugary starches, corn starches, extracts, emulsifiers, glues, all kinds of chemical trickery..." (Timestamp: [06:25])

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For More Information:
Listeners are encouraged to submit their health questions via voice memos, emails to asksanjayn.com, or by calling 470-396-0832 to participate in future episodes of Chasing Life.

Transcript

[Sponsor Voice]

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[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Welcome to Paging Dr. Gupta. This is one of my favorite weekly traditions. I get a chance to hear from you, get a chance to answer your health questions. I think of it like my office hours, so welcome to office hours. We don't need to be too formal here. We can be less buttoned up and just chat about the issues that matter to you. And by the way, thank you for sending in all these questions. I feel like we're starting to develop a real conversation, so thank you for that. But we got two really fascinating questions we want to get to. Kira. Take it away.

[Sponsor Voice]

Hey, Sanjay. So this week's first question is coming from Kevin in Orlando, and he's actually asking something that has sparked a lot of debate among members of the podcast production team. So we definitely want to know the answer. Take a listen.

[Kevin]

Hey, Dr. Gupta, this is Kevin. I'm 54 years old and just wondering if I should be drinking whole milk or skim milk. I have family members that are adamant about drinking skim milk and they don't seem to get enough fat in their diet. I don't know if I do. I'm just wondering if it's going to create problems in the long run. I was on almond milk for a long time and about a month ago I switched to lactose free whole milk. So if you can give me some insight on that and give us some insight. That'd be fantastic. Thank you so much.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

All right, Kevin, this is a great question and honestly it's something that I think about quite a bit as well. I recently started drinking more milk because I had low calcium at a recent doctor's visit and that surprised me a little bit. But you know, I sort of realized that I had not been drinking much milk for many, many years. I drank a lot of milk when I was a kid, maybe even into college. But at some point it just started to drop off. And now as a guy in his mid-50s, I wasn't getting enough. So I've started drinking more milk. I generally drink whatever is in the refrigerator. But this sort of gets us to the question, first of all, there's a lot of options out there. Plant based organization all the way to cow's milk. Lots of options in between. There are even some that are off the beaten path. Pistachio and buckwheat milk. Those are supposedly this year's hot new milks. But which is the healthiest? First of all, I think that does depend on what you're hoping to gain nutrient wise when you pour a glass of milk. What are your objectives here? So let's start by talking about the difference between the plant based milks, since I know that you said you recently quit almond milk. First of all, all milk is not created equal. In fact, candidly, you know, just even using the word milk I think sometimes is misleading because many of the plant based milk alternatives lack the amount of calcium which I was looking for, lack the amount of vitamin D or other nutrients even that milk typically has. So when you buy milk, you often think you're getting those nutrients. But some of these plant based options don't have them. According to the U.S. dietary guidelines, only soy milk that is fortified with calcium, vitamin A and vitamin D actually measures up to dairy milk nutritionally, meaning having similar amounts of key ingredients. Other plant based beverages were not currently at least included in that group. So that's just something again to keep in the back of mind in terms of what your goals are when you're drinking milk. Doesn't mean those plant based milks aren't good options for people with allergies or dietary or personal preferences. But it does mean you need to look at the labels closely when comparing milk options. The things you should look for Protein, that's a building block for bones, muscles, cartilage, vitamin D, which among other things helps to maintain proper levels of calcium and phosphorus and build up bones. Calcium, which is used for building bones and Teeth, potassium, which does all kinds of things, including maintaining healthy blood pressure, proper kidney function, muscle function, heart function, and finally, when you're looking at those nutritional labels, look for options that are lower in added sugar and saturated fat. Now, let's talk cow's milk. First of all, nutritionally, that's still the gold standard, particularly when it comes to protein, calcium and vitamin D. But not all cow's milk is the same. And I think this gets to the heart of your question, Kevin. One big difference is fat content. The general recommendation is that adults choose fat free or low fat milk instead of whole milk to reduce the amount of saturated fat in the diet. And for context, one cup of whole milk contains four and a half grams of saturated fat, and that's about 20% of your daily recommended limit. So one cup of whole milk, 20% of your daily recommended limit of saturated fat. But at the same time, you need saturated fat. You don't need to totally demonize this.

[Dr. Tim Spector]

Extra virgin olive oil is probably the most healthy cooking ingredient in the world. A number of studies show it reduces heart disease, diabetes, cancers in massive studies in Italy and Spain elsewhere. And you know, that contains up to 14% saturated fat, but it's mixed in with other healthy fats.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

That's Dr. Tim Spector, a renowned nutritionist who I recently spoke to for my Chasing Life podcast. And we were talking all about protein, but he said that in moderation, full fat dairy, like milk can actually, maybe even should actually be part of a balanced diet. And while this isn't usually true of skim milk, Dr. Spector also pointed out something really important, which is when some food companies remove fat from these quote unquote low fat products, they do sometimes replace it with other ingredients.

[Dr. Tim Spector]

You see these huge aisles, especially in the dairy section of low fat foods, and most of them are heavily processed. They've replaced the fat with sugary starches, corn starches, extracts, emulsifiers, glues, all kinds of chemical trickery to make you think you're getting that mouth feel of real fat on your tongue. And these cause more sugar spikes, they're bad for your gut microbes and really should be avoided. And that's this whole new movement about picking up on ultra processed food, which makes up 60% of the American diet, is often these fake foods that mean we're ingesting a lot of these chemicals which, you know, once in a while aren't a problem. But if you're having them every day for 30, 40 years, certainly are, and they nearly all make you overeat.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

So I guess Kevin here's the bottom line. Whole milk in moderation can be, maybe even should be, part of a balanced diet, especially if it helps you feel satisfied and you're not overdoing it with saturated fat elsewhere. Again, one cup is about 20% of your recommended daily amount. Now, compared to sugary drinks or overly processed, low fat products, whole milk might even be the better choice for some people. Okay, skim milk does have fewer calories and less saturated fat, but as you just heard, it may have other ingredients and it could be lower in some of these key vitamins unless they are added back in. So check for the label. Does that skim milk or whatever milk product you're talking about have vitamin A, vitamin D, things like that? Make sure you get enough of the nutrients you need. When we come back, we're going to shift gears and hear from a listener named Sarah who's got a question about dreaming. Stick around.

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[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

And there goes the pager, which means it's time for another question. Kara, who's up next?

[Sponsor Voice]

Now next up, we have Sarah from Connecticut. Here she is.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Hi, my name is Sarah. I'm 68 years old. I just listened to the podcast about dreams. Sometimes I will be screaming while I'm sleeping and my spouse always wakes me up. I'm wondering whether it's healthier to keep dreaming or to be woken up. Thanks. Okay, Sarah, thank you for that question. First of all, let me catch people up who maybe didn't catch the podcast episode about dreaming. And then we're going to run over a few basics.

[Siddhartha Ribeiro]

So dreams are the product of the reactivation of memories. To a large extent, they reflect what's going on in your life. They reflect your fears and desires, your challenges. Nothing is just a dream. A dream is something to be paid attention to, something to be interpreted, something to be shared because it will influence everybody else. And I think we lost that. And that's why I think we should rescue the art of dreaming.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

That's neuroscientist Siddhartha Ribeiro. He's an internationally recognized leading expert on memory, sleep and dreaming. Now, when we spoke, he made this really compelling case for why we should all try to get better sleep, but also dream more.

[Siddhartha Ribeiro]

Sleep has different phases. When you have a full night of sleep, you go through four or five full cycles of sleep. In each cycle, you undergo four different states. State 1 and 2 are very brief. This is when we are dozing and then we start dreaming. But those dreams are little clips. They're not really full fledged dreams. Then we go into phase three, this so called slow wave sleep. When you're in that state, you don't really dream much. People that are awoken from that state, they will report some vague thoughts, I need to pay some bill or something like that. But not a movie, not something with a strong visual impression. Then we go into rapid eye movement sleep, REM sleep. And this is when our brains become really, really engaged in the reactivation of memories.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Now, Ribeiro also pointed out something that might surprise many of us. Even nightmares, as scary or intense as they can be, they're actually a normal part of REM sleep. Now you may also be surprised to know that when your brain is in this active REM phase, your body is temporarily paralyzed. So that's part of the reason you don't physically act out your dreams. You are in the state of sleep paralysis. But not all scary sleep experiences are actually considered nightmares. Nightmares and night terrors are actually two very different neurological experiences. And understanding that difference matters, especially if trying to answer your question, which is, is it appropriate to wake someone up or comfort someone in the middle of one of these episodes? So here's the key distinction. Nightmares typically happen during REM sleep, rapid eye movement sleep, that's typically later in the night. If someone wakes up from a nightmare, they're usually alert and they can describe what happened. Okay? Night terrors, on the other hand, typically happen during non REM sleep, and often that means within the first few hours of falling asleep. That's when the brain is sort of shifting between stages. Now, someone having a night terror is not sleep paralyzed. So they might sit up, scream, thrash, even sleepwalk, but they are still asleep. And unlike nightmares, they usually won't remember it. So why does this matter? How you respond to that could be very different depending on what you're actually experiencing. If you're having a nightmare, it will likely go unnoticed unless it is intense enough to wake us up. And that's also when we tend to remember them. Now Siddhartha said talking about the dream afterward, especially with someone you trust, can actually help your brain process it and lead to more restful REM sleep. But on the other hand, if someone's having a night terror and they're sitting up and moving and screaming, waking them up could actually make things worse. In those cases, experts recommend staying close, making sure the person is safe, but mostly letting the episode pass on its own. I will say this. If these night terrors are happening often and they're affecting your sleep or your day to day life, you should probably try and get some help for that. There are treatments for that. Psychologists sometimes use a technique called imagery rehearsal therapy, where you reimagine the nightmare during the day and give it a safer, newer ending. And there was this meta analysis a few years ago that found this method could be just as effective as certain medications in reducing these sorts of nightmares. It's even something you can try on your own. So if you have a bad dream, actually think about it the next day and then daydream a new ending. An ending where you feel safe and comfortable. So Sarah, I hope that helps and I hope that you're able to look forward to a better night's sleep very soon. And as always, thanks to everyone who took the time to call in and email a question. I really do love hearing from you, and if you've got a health question you'd like answered, we could answer it on an upcoming show, record a voice memo, email it to asksanjayn.com or give us a call 470-396-0832 and leave a message. Thanks for listening. I'll be back next Tuesday. Chasing Life is a production of CNN Audio. Our podcast is produced by Aaron Mathewson, Jennifer Lai, Grace Walker, Lori Gallaretta, Jesse Remedios, Sofia Sanchez and Kyra Daring. Andrea Cain is our medical writer. Our senior producer is Dan Bloom. Amanda Seely is our showrunner, Dan dejula is our technical director and the executive producer of CNN Audio is Steve Lichtai, with support from Jamis Andrest, John Dionora, Hayley Thomas, Alex Manasseri, Robert Mathers, Lainey Steinhart, Nicole Pesaru and Lisa Namorow. Special thanks to Ben Tinker and Nadia Kanang of CNN Health and Wendy Brundage.

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