Research

•A portion of oven chips contains 9 times more vitamin C than a slice of pizza
•A portion of takeaway fish and chips contains just 60% of the calories found in sweet-and-sour chicken, egg-fried rice and a portion of vegetable spring rolls
•Chicken Tikka Masala, pilau rice and a plain naan has 17% more fat than a portion of fish and chips
•Top of the takeaways! Fish suppers remain the nation’s favourite, outselling Indian food at a rate of 2:1

Surprisingly (or maybe not) although the most popular restaurants for fast food seem to be burger bars, according to figures from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, our favourite choice for a fast food meal is fish and chips.

Take-out food is often fast food, but not always so. Whereas fast food carries the connotation of a standardized product from a globalized chain or franchise, take-away outlets are often small businesses serving traditional food, which is sometimes but by no means always of high quality. Examples include neighbourhood fish and chip shops in the UK, Australia and New Zealand; sandwiches sold by delis in the U.S.; kebabs sold in many countries; and the wide range of sausage-based snacks sold from stalls in German cities.

•The UK's 8,500 fish and chip shops sell over 277 million portions of chips per year.
•Over half the UK adult population visits fish and chip shop at least once a month, and 15% of the UK adult population enjoy fish and chips once or twice a week.
•The British Nutrition Foundation confirms that an average portion of battered fish and chips contains 20.6g of fat. That is almost three times less fat than a chicken tikka masala and pilau rice, which is loaded with a staggering 59.9g fat. A Chinese takeaway of sweet and sour pork with egg-fried rice weighs in with 38.6g fat, nearly double the content of fish and chips.
•An average serving of chips contains more than double the amount of fibre found in an average serving of brown rice or bowl of porridge.
•An average portion of battered cod & chips has fewer calories, at least half the saturated fat and just a tenth of the salt of a cheese and tomato pizza.
•You can get a third of your daily vitamin C from a portion of chips.
•Thick chips absorb less oil than thin ones, so chunky chips are healthier.
•Fish & Chips is amongst the least processed takeaway food available.

The popularity of sandwich bars and juice bars is rising, with one particular sandwich outlet announcing ambitious plans to increase its number of outlets to rival McDonalds. Jumping on the healthy eating band wagon appears to be one thing that the rival fast food joints are trying to out-do each other on, falling over themselves to print nutritional information on their websites, and offer diet versions of old favourites, healthy and lower fat menu options

We all know takeaways aren't the healthiest of meals but chances are we also don't realise just how bad some of them actually are.

An average Indian takeaway of chicken tikka masala, pilau rice and a plain naan contains a whopping 1,338 calories and 55g of fat, according to a report in Which? magazine last week.

That's two-thirds of the calories and almost 80 per cent of the fat an average woman should have in a whole day. Chinese sweet and sour chicken, egg fried rice and vegetable spring rolls are even worse, containing a massive 1,436 calories and 60g of fat!

Department of Health guidelines say that women should have no more than 2,000 calories and 70g of fat a day, and men no more than 2,500 calories and 95g fat in total.

http://www.britztakeawaydiner.co.uk/swindon/facts/
http://www.lovechips.co.uk/top-takeaway-facts/
http://www.takeawayfever.com/join.php
http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/06/27_fast-food.html
http://www.mirror.co.uk/life-style/dieting/2008/07/03/your-healthy-guide-to-takeaway-food-115875-20629920/