Why Does Everyone Have the Flu?

Summary

Chasing Life: "Why Does Everyone Have the Flu?"

Host: Dr. Sanjay Gupta
Date: January 13, 2026
Summary Prepared By: [Your AI Podcast Summarizer]

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Overview

In this episode, Dr. Sanjay Gupta addresses two front-of-mind issues for many listeners:

1. The new 2025-2030 U.S. dietary guidelines — what’s changed and why it matters
2. The especially brutal flu season of 2026 — why it’s so bad, what you need to know, and how to protect yourself

With insight from Sophia (show producer), Dr. Tim Spector (genetic epidemiologist), and Meg Tyrell (health reporter), Sanjay navigates the science behind hot topics impacting diet, disease prevention, and everyday habits.

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New Dietary Guidelines: Key Insights

[00:25 – 08:22]

Major Takeaways and Guidance

• Whole Foods Over Processed Foods

  • Guidance emphasizes eating “more whole foods. We should be eating more real foods.” – Dr. Sanjay Gupta [00:41]

  • Ultra-processed foods are now directly called out as health hazards; previously they were not even mentioned in guidelines.

    “If you’re seeing ingredients that you can’t pronounce or you don’t know what it is, those are probably ultra processed foods.”
    — Dr. Sanjay Gupta [01:33]

  • Action: Read labels; aim for foods you could theoretically prepare yourself.

• Ultra-Processed Foods and Kids

  • 2/3 of the average American kid’s diet is now ultra-processed foods [02:10]
  • The guidelines strongly recommend families work to reduce this.

• Sugar Intake

  • Recommendation now framed per meal, not per day:

    “No more than 10 grams of added sugar per meal.”
    — Dr. Sanjay Gupta [02:41]

  • Distributing sugar intake evenly avoids dangerous spikes in blood glucose, especially at night.

• Protein Intake

  • Noticeable increase in recommendations:

    • 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kg per day (~80–110g daily for a 150-lb person)
    • Previous guidance was far less: 13–56g per day.

  • All sources count: animal, eggs, plant-based (beans, peas, legumes, nuts, soy)

    “It's a lot of protein to try and get into your body in a particular day.”
    — Dr. Sanjay Gupta [03:30]

  • Expert perspective:

    “…studies have shown that Americans have more than enough protein…90% of Americans are deficient in fiber, and yet nobody's fighting the corner of fiber.”
    — Dr. Tim Spector [04:54]

• Fiber: The Overlooked Nutrient

  • Despite protein focus, most Americans are fiber-deficient — “We need to be thinking more about fiber.” [05:25]
  • Fiber got little attention in the guidelines but came up as a blind spot.

• Full-Fat Products and Saturated Fat

  • Guidance now allows/promotes full-fat dairy, red meat, butter, and even beef tallow.

    "That’s going to surprise a lot of people."
    — Dr. Sanjay Gupta [05:36]

  • Nuance: Only 10% of calories should come from saturated fats; people with heart disease risk should remain especially wary.

    “For me, personally, I'm still trying to avoid, if not eliminate, many of those full fat products entirely.”
    — Dr. Sanjay Gupta [06:07]

• Alcohol

  • Previous explicit serving limits are gone; now: “try and limit your alcohol consumption in pursuit of better health.”
  • This departs from older wisdom (i.e., the “red wine is good for your heart” era) and aligns with current science:

    “…the science is increasingly trending towards this idea that there really is no safe amount of alcohol.”
    — Dr. Sanjay Gupta [07:24]

  • WHO and American Heart Association both now advise against alcohol for health/blood pressure [06:32–07:24]

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The 2026 "Terrible" Flu Season

[09:39 – 11:50]

Why Is Everyone Sick?

• Listener Question:
  "I feel like everyone I know is sick... is it too late to get a flu shot? How can you get better faster, and should you worry if you have a lingering cough?"
  — Sophia [09:44]

Meg Tyrell’s Flu Update

• New Strain — The Subclade K Factor

  • Subclade K: Emerged after this year’s vaccine was formulated → “a little bit of a mismatch between that circulating strain and the flu shot.” [10:13]

• Why Get the Shot Anyway?

  • It still helps, especially for severe disease:

    “…it may not stop you from getting the flu completely, but it may keep you from having a really bad time with it.”
    — Meg Tyrell [10:33]

  • Data from the UK shows continued protection

• Antivirals: Act Fast

  • Early testing allows antivirals (like Tamiflu, Zofluza) to work best.

    “…if you take them early, they can shorten the duration of your illness and they can reduce your symptoms.”
    — Meg Tyrell [11:00]

  • Can be used for prevention in exposed households

• Lingering Coughs

  • “...not necessarily unusual to have a cough that persists for a couple weeks after a viral infection.”
  • When to worry: Cough continues beyond a couple weeks, trouble swallowing, hoarseness, coughing blood → see a doctor.

• General Prevention

  • “Wash your hands, stay home if you can, and take care.” [11:44]

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Notable Quotes

• On ultra-processed foods:
  "These are foods that you probably couldn't possibly make in your own kitchen."
  — Dr. Sanjay Gupta [01:22]

• On sugar:
  "You don't want to be thinking about avoiding sugar during the day and then suddenly having a glucose spike at night followed by an insulin spike at night."
  — Dr. Sanjay Gupta [02:50]

• On protein vs fiber:
  "Most people are already on twice the [recommended protein] amount. And yet 90% of Americans are deficient in fiber, and yet nobody's fighting the corner of fiber."
  — Dr. Tim Spector [04:54]

• On full-fat products:
  "Only 10% of your overall calories should come from these saturated fat products."
  — Dr. Sanjay Gupta [05:56]

• On alcohol's changing narrative:
  "At one point, people thought drinking could actually improve your health. That started to fade away over the last decade..."
  — Dr. Sanjay Gupta [06:44]

• On the flu shot and new strain:
  "It may not stop you from getting the flu completely, but it may keep you from having a really bad time with it."
  — Meg Tyrell [10:33]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:25]: Introduction to new dietary guidelines
• [01:22]: Ultra-processed foods explained
• [02:41]: New approach to sugar intake
• [03:30]: Increased protein recommendations and sources
• [04:41]: Interview clip — Dr. Tim Spector on protein vs fiber
• [05:36]: Surprising support for full-fat products, with heart risk caveats
• [06:32]: Update on alcohol guidance and evolving science
• [09:44]: Listener question on the 2026 flu season
• [10:13]: Meg Tyrell explains the new flu strain and vaccine matchup
• [11:00]: When and how to use antiviral medications
• [11:29]: What to expect from a lingering cough

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Closing Thoughts

This episode delivers a pragmatic update to nutrition and flu guidance for 2026, emphasizing moderation, transparency, and evidence-based action while urging listeners to adapt within their personal and family health contexts. Dr. Gupta balances official recommendations with his own clinical experiences and those of respected colleagues, offering actionable advice that is both grounded and relatable.

Transcript

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Hey there. Welcome to Paging Dr. Gupta. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm delighted you're here. This is my favorite time of the week because I get to hear directly from you, hopefully answer your questions and provide you some answers that can improve your life in big ways, in small ways, always important ways. Sophia is back with us. What do we have first?

[Sophia]

Hey, Sanjay. So we've been reading about the new dietary guidelines, and a lot of us remember that famous food pyramid from health class. Well, there's been an update to that. So I'd really like to hear what your biggest takeaways are from these new guidelines. What should we know?

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Yeah, lots of questions about these dietary guidelines. First of all, I should point out that the guidelines are updated every five years. So this was no surprise to get these new guidelines. There's lots of headlines here, a couple takeaways and some nuance that I think is really important. And, and we'll get into it right after the break. The new dietary guidelines for 2025-2030 have dropped. Let me tell you what I sort of took away from this. First of all, we should be eating more whole foods. We should be eating more real foods. That has been guidance that's been out there for decades. We know this. We're not always the best at this, but we know this. And there's a real promotion of these types of foods in these new dietary guidelines as well. Also this idea that we really need to limit our consumption of ultra processed foods. I know this isn't always easy because these ultra processed foods are so available, they're so accessible, they're oftentimes so cheap. But we know that they are bad for us. They are strongly linked to chronic diseases. And, you know, keep in mind that in the last set of dietary guidelines, ultra processed foods were not even mentioned. Gives you an idea of just how quickly our food landscape has been changing. You may wonder, what are ultra processed foods? Sometimes this can be hard to define, but the way that I think about it is that these are foods that you probably couldn't possibly make in your own kitchen. They contain ingredients that you're not going to find in your local grocery store. So look at these labels this year. If you're seeing ingredients that you can't pronounce or you don't know what it is, those are probably ultra processed foods. Again, we've known for some time that we should eliminate or at least avoid greatly reduce our consumption of that. But this is the year to make it happen. Our kids, incidentally, are eating More and more ultra processed foods. According to a recent study, about 2/3 of an average American kid's diet is comprised of ultra processed foods. These dietary guidelines strongly recommend limiting that. There's also a focus on sugar. And instead of thinking about sugar or added sugar on a daily basis, start thinking about this on a per meal basis, meaning no more than 10 grams of added sugar per meal. You don't want to be thinking about avoiding sugar during the day and then suddenly having a glucose spike at night followed by an insulin spike at night. Instead, think about limiting your added sugar throughout the day. Again, no more than 10 grams of added sugar per meal. Protein recommendations have gone up. This is making a lot of news. The new recommendations with regard to protein is specifically 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Doing the math, that basically means 80 to about 110 grams of protein per day for a 150 pound person. That's significantly higher than what it was in the past. 13 to 56 grams of protein per day is what the last set of dietary guidelines recommended. There's all sorts of different ways you can get protein. Animal sources, including eggs and poultry and seafood and plant based sources as well. Beans, peas, lentils, legumes, nuts, seeds and soy. It's a lot of protein to try and get into your body in a particular day. You may remember on a recent episode of Chasing Life, I spoke to Dr. Tim Spector, a genetic epidemiologist. He agrees that protein is important to our diet, but there was another nutrient that he did not want us to ignore.

[Dr. Tim Spector]

I'm not saying protein's bad. You have to take a lot of it for it to be harmful. So in general, protein is pretty good, particularly if it's plant protein. But nothing wrong with meat protein in moderation, but it's what it replaces. We need to start thinking much more holistically. And this is whenever you add too much of something, you can't get the rest of it. So studies have shown that Americans have more than enough protein. They're getting a lot. There might be a few exceptions out there, but most people are already on twice the amount. And yet 90% of Americans are deficient in fiber, and yet nobody's fighting the corner of fiber.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

I think that's something really important that was not mentioned in these new dietary guidelines. We need to be thinking more about fiber. And that brings us to something that I think is surprising in these new dietary guidelines. There is promotion of full fat products, including dairy products, red meat, butter and Even beef tallow. And I think that's going to surprise a lot of people. Part of the reason over the last few decades, there's been a move away from saturated fat products like the ones I just mentioned and is because of the concerns about heart disease. Keep in mind, about half of us adults have some form of heart disease. And even though there is now this promotion of these full fat products, you have to be careful, especially if you're worried about heart disease, as I am. I have a strong family history of heart disease. There is a nuance here in the dietary guidelines, basically saying only 10% of your overall calories should come from these saturated fat products. So be really careful here. For me, personally, I'm still trying to avoid, if not eliminate, many of those full fat products entirely. Alcohol was another thing that came up in these new dietary guidelines. And in the past, there were precise limits on alcohol consumption. Those precise limits have gone away. Now they basically say to try and limit your alcohol consumption in pursuit of better health. Now, that was a little surprising because in 2023, the World Health Organization came out with a pretty strong statement saying that people should abstain from alcohol. There was no amount of alcohol that was good for your health. In 2025, the American Heart association sort of followed basically saying, especially when it came to your blood pressure, you should avoid alcohol completely. So this is going to be a personal choice, obviously. But keep in mind that over the years, the science has evolved on alcohol. At one point, people thought drinking could actually improve your health. A couple glasses of red wine, for example. That started to fade away over the last decade. And then again over the last couple of years, these strong statements coming out, basically saying alcohol in and of itself was not good for your health and people should abstain from it. Okay, so those are some of the headlines, those are some of the takeaways, and some of the nuances as well. The full fat, dairy and food recommendations. Those surprise me a little bit. I would urge caution again, especially if you're worried about heart disease. And be very careful with the alcohol consumption. I think the science is increasingly trending towards this idea that there really is no safe amount of alcohol. I hope that helps. Now it may seem like everyone around you is sniffling and sneezing, and that means flu season is in full swing. So after the break, we'll tell you what you need to know and how to stay safe.

[Audie Cornish]

This week on the Assignment with me, Audie Cornish talking with Ira Madison the third about heated rivalry.

[Ira Madison III]

First of all, Brokeback Mountain woke it up. For so many gay men of a certain age. You know, I think, like, the final essay in my book is about Brokeback Mountain.

[Meg Tyrell]

Oh, really?

[Audie Cornish]

Why did you let me lecture you on Brokeback Mountain? Iron Madison iii.

[Ira Madison III]

You were completely.

[Audie Cornish]

Shut up.

[Ira Madison III]

You were cooking. You were cooking.

[Audie Cornish]

Listen to the assignment with me, Audie Cornish. Streaming now on your favorite podcast app.

[Anderson Cooper]

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[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Okay, we know that sound. Sophia, what do we have next?

[Sophia]

Sanjay, I feel like everyone I know is sick. And I keep seeing headlines on how bad this flu season is. So we're wondering, Sanjay, what's behind this? Is it too late to get a flu shot? How can you get better, faster, and should you worry if you have a lingering cough?

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Okay, great questions and really important this time of year, I'm going to turn this over, actually to my colleague and friend, Meg Tyrell. She's been following this flu season very closely.

[Meg Tyrell]

Part of the reason we're having such a severe flu season is because there is a new strain of flu going around. It's known as subclade K, and it arose in the United States after health officials had designed what the flu vaccine was gonna look like. So there is a little bit of a mismatch between that circulating strain and the flu shot. But does that mean that the shot is useless? And no, should you still get it even though it doesn't match that circulating strain? Experts say yes. Data out of the UK in November suggests that it still provides protection, especially against more severe disease. So what that means is it may not stop you from getting the flu completely, but it may keep you from having a really bad time with it. Next, you might be wondering how you can get better faster. And here there is good news. Unlike for the common cold, for example, there are actually ways to treat the flu, and it's best if you get tested quickly because that's when antiviral drugs work. The best things like Tamiflu and Zofluza, they're available by prescription. And if you take them early, they can shorten the duration of your illness and they can reduce your symptoms. You can also take them to try to prevent symptoms of the flu if somebody you live with, for example, has been diagnosed. And finally, if you're dealing with a lingering cough that is so annoying. But doctors say it's not necessarily unusual to have a cough that persists from for a couple weeks after a viral infection even as you start to feel better in every other way. Of course, there are exceptions here. If it goes on for longer than that or you have other troubling symptoms like having trouble swallowing, feeling hoarse, coughing blood, obviously get those things checked out. In the meantime, wash your hands, stay home if you can, and take care.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Meg, thank you so much. I hope that helps everyone stay healthy. And that's all the time we have for today's episode. And if you or anyone in your life has questions, I want to hear them. Record a voice memo. Email it to Paging Dr. Gupta. That's pagingdrgupta.com or give us a call 470-396-0832. Leave a message. And as always, thanks for listening.

[Unknown Narrator]

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