Are Asian foods as “fattening” as western-styled fast foods?

In Asia, the consumption of western-styled fast foods is widely perceived as the cause of the rise in obesity and chronic disease. Twenty-five of the most popular local Asian foods were compared for energy, total fat, saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol with twenty-nine western-styled fast foods. The comparative analysis showed no significant difference in energy ( p = 0.150) and total fat ( p = 0.346) between the two food categories. These findings suggest that many local Asian foods contribute as much energy and total fat in a single meal as western-styled fast foods. Local Asian foods had greater amounts of sodium ( p