Food consumption and nutrient intake

To measure food consumption and nutrient intake reliably, Finnish State research institutes (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Finnish Food Authority) and universities (University of Helsinki, University of Eastern Finland, University of Turku) offer scientific tools, methods, and related expertise to foster high-quality nutrition research.

The goal of the research infrastructure is to advance nutrition research and harmonize methodology within the field to be well-equipped to confront challenges and opportunities of human nutrition in future.

FOODNUTRI information portal and services are targeted for researchers within the academia, the educational sector, health care and health promotion sectors, food industry and companies, and citizens.

Researchers within academia: Fineli is a national database maintained by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and containing information on the average nutrient contents of Finnish foods. The openly available database and the Fineli web service www.fineli.fi include over 4,000 foods and dishes and 55 nutrient factors.

In addition, nutrient factors not visible on the Fineli web service are available for research purposes through collaboration.

The quality of the Fineli database is under continuous effort fostered by the national food analysis program and international networks.

Educational sector: Knowledge of food composition provides the basis for nutrition-related activities. The Fineli web service www.fineli.fi provides further information on the data content (e.g., instructions and references) of the national food composition database. The Fineli web service includes a food diary function.

Health care and health promotion sector: Knowledge on the composition of foods is essential in all clinical settings where customers are given nutrition counselling and therapy. The Fineli web service www.fineli.fi includes a food diary function.

Food Industry and companies: The Fineli database can be utilized in e.g., recipe and menu planning as well as preparing package labelling according to prevailing regulations.

The content of the database is freely available as Fineli Open Data. The use of the material is governed by the terms and conditions specified by license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 or CC-BY 4.0.

Citizens: Individual users can search and compare nutrient content of foods using the Fineli web service www.fineli.fi. The web service includes a food diary function which can be used by individuals to monitor their own food consumption and calculate energy and nutrient intakes.

More information on the Finnish national food composition database Fineli®:

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) : https://thl.fi/fi/tutkimus-ja-kehittaminen/tutkimukset-ja-hankkeet/ilmastoviisaan-ruoan-ja-ravitsemuksen-tutkimusinfrastruktuuri-foodnutri

More information on the national food analysis program and associated methods:

Finnish Food Authority: https://www.ruokavirasto.fi/teemat/foodnutri/

Researchers within academia: The Finmeal software is designed to enter food consumption data in studies applying classical dietary assessment methods such as food diaries and 24-hour dietary recalls.

The software relates to data processing and calculation procedures that utilize the national food composition database Fineli and provides the researcher nutritional datasets of their own study.

Health care and Health promotion sector: In the future, it is foreseen that the Finmeal software can be used in clinical settings to calculate nutrient intake of customers and tailor nutritional advice personally for them.

More information on the Finmeal software:

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) : https://thl.fi/fi/tutkimus-ja-kehittaminen/tutkimukset-ja-hankkeet/ilmastoviisaan-ruoan-ja-ravitsemuksen-tutkimusinfrastruktuuri-foodnutri-

Researchers within academia: Questionnaire methods, including comprehensive food frequency questionnaires (FFQ), are cost-effective in large epidemiological studies. Researchers are offered the possibility to use FFQs that have been developed for the Finnish population.

Some of these FFQs are designed for screening food consumption alone, while others can be further processed using the Fineli® food composition database and associated calculation procedures. This provides the researcher nutritional datasets of their own study thus creating possibilities for nutritional epidemiological research.

Educational sector: The design of food frequency questionnaires is included in the curricula of future nutrition experts. Examples of validated food frequency questionnaires and the descriptions of their development are available.

More information on questionnaire methods:

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) : https://thl.fi/fi/tutkimus-ja-kehittaminen/tutkimukset-ja-hankkeet/ilmastoviisaan-ruoan-ja-ravitsemuksen-tutkimusinfrastruktuuri-foodnutri-

University of Helsinki: UH Services for food education and research on food consumption

Health care and health promotion sector: To ease dietary counselling in health care, a Healthy Diet Index (HDI) and automated dietary feedback, with special focus on type 2 diabetes prevention is openly available through the StopDia project’s material bank.

More information on Healthy Diet Index and related projects:

University of Eastern Finland: https://uefconnect.uef.fi/en/group/food-research/

StopDia project: https://sites.uef.fi/stopdia/?lang=en

Researchers within academia: The consortium conveys information around statistical analysis, and dietary data related methodology including usual intake modelling, misreporting and harmonized food consumption surveys across Europe.

More information on methods related to dietary data analysis:

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) : https://thl.fi/fi/tutkimus-ja-kehittaminen/tutkimukset-ja-hankkeet/ilmastoviisaan-ruoan-ja-ravitsemuksen-tutkimusinfrastruktuuri-foodnutri-

Finnish Food Authority: https://www.ruokavirasto.fi/en/themes/risk-assessment/projects-of-risk-assessment/microbiological-food-safety/exposure-to-microbiological-and-chemical-hazards-via-food-bike-project/

Researchers within academia: The research data gathered by means of diverse tools and methods by the FOODNUTRI research institutes and universities is openly available through application processes on a contractual basis.

Engagement in collaborative projects with us is a possibility to utilize existing datasets and benefit from the broad expertise of the FOODNUTRI partners.

More information on research data:

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) : https://thl.fi/fi/tutkimus-ja-kehittaminen/tutkimukset-ja-hankkeet/ilmastoviisaan-ruoan-ja-ravitsemuksen-tutkimusinfrastruktuuri-foodnutri-

University of Helsinki: UH Services for food education and research on food consumption

University of Eastern Finland: https://uefconnect.uef.fi/en/group/food-research/

University of Turku:

Finnish Food Authority: https://www.ruokavirasto.fi/teemat/foodnutri/

Services are available by FOODNUTRI partners at different locations by University of Helsinki (UH), Finnish Food Authority (FFA), University of Eastern Finland (UEF), and University of Turku (UTU).