FinnFoodPics - Project Documentation Hub

Welcome to the official documentation for the FinnFoodPics Study. This wiki is the primary resource for all information related to the study's dataset. Here, you will find comprehensive guidance on how to understand, access, and work with the data, making it a central point for all researchers and users.

FinnFoodPics: Image database of food items for the study of eating behaviors in residents of Finland (Kanyamibwa et al. 2025).

Description: 72 food images (i.e., snacks) each in ten different portions (40, 80, 120, 160, 200, 240, 280, 320, 360 and 400 kcal), classified into three macronutrient categories with one group containing high amounts of calories predominantly from carbohydrates (Carbohydrate category), one with calories predominantly from fat (Fat category), and the third group with items containing a high percentage of calories from both carbohydrates and fat (Combo category) (Fromm et al., 2021). Aside from the 720 images, the database contains nutritional information of the food item per 100 g as well as the specific portion size of 120 kcal. In addition, visual image properties (Blechert et al., 2014) and subjective food ratings from a representative sample of residents of Finland are provided for the 120 kcal portion.

We also included the source of the items (for example, Lidl supermarket), brand names, commercial prices at the time of purchase, and NOVA classification based on Monteiro and colleagues (Monteiro et al., 2010, 2019).

Details:

• Food characteristics: energy density (kcal/g), protein (g/120 kcal), fat (g/120 kcal), carbohydrates (g/120 kcal), fibre (g/120 kcal), salt (g/120 kcal), sugars (g/120 kcal), saturated fat (g/120 kcal), price (€/120 kcal), NOVA classification.
• Food ratings: liking (% of scale), familiarity (% of scale), perceived healthiness (% of scale), expected satiation (% of scale), frequency of consumption (days/month), estimated energy density (% of scale), estimated energy content/calories (kcal).
• Visual properties: visual area of food (cm²), R/G/B values, brightness, within object contrast, complexity (edge detection), spatial frequency.

• FinnFoodPics - Project Documentation Hub
• Original Publication
• Overview - Core Identification & Administrative
• Study General Information
• Experiment Specific information
• Data Availability
• Related Publications
  • Background & Prerequisite Materials
• Contact Us

Original Publication

For a complete overview and detailed methodology, please refer to our related publication:

"FinnFoodPics: A database of Finnish snack foods for investigating modern eating behaviors" in the journal Food Quality and Preference.

Keywords: Food image database, Macronutrients, Carbohydrates, Fat, Eating behavior

• Kanyamibwa, A., Hartmann, H., Fängström, D., Vikatmaa, W., Pocan, B., Perszyk, E. E., ... & Horstmann, A. (2025). FinnFoodPics: A database of Finnish snack foods for investigating modern eating behaviors. Food Quality and Preference, 129, 105512. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2025.105512

Overview - Core Identification & Administrative

Study General Information

• Research Questions or Motivations behind this study:

  The goal was to create a picture set of familiar Finnish foods that allows for the exploration of modern macronutrient combinations, while accounting for various factors that influence experiments on eating behavior.

Experiment Specific information

         62 Healthy individuals (36 Female)

         Mean = 25.96,  SD = ± 6.70, Range = 18–44

         Mean = 15.11, SD = ± 2.62, Range = 12–22

         Mean = 23.78, SD = ± 3.54, Range = 19.03–38.71

Data Availability

The FinnFoodPics dataset is available upon request for research purposes. To gain access to the data and related documentation, please submit a request through the contact form on the O'Brain Lab website: https://obrainlab.com/resources/.

Related Publications

FinnFoodPics was developed to address the need for cost-effective and ecologically valid studies in dietary research. The creators drew upon methodologies from previous studies by Blechert et al. (2014, 2019) and Fromm et al. (2021), which provided valuable information for the inclusion and categorization of macronutrient combinations found in modern supermarkets, as well as the importance of local population familiarity and visual characteristics that can influence image ratings.

Recognizing that many macronutrient combinations do not occur naturally, the FinnFoodPics team aimed to fill this gap by creating a database of familiar Finnish foods that reflects the complexities of contemporary diets.

Background & Prerequisite Materials

Building on the foundations of related work is essential for a deep understanding of this study. For a more comprehensive background, we suggest reviewing the following key publications:

• Fromm, S., Perszyk, E. E., Kanyamibwa, A., Wall, K. M., Hutelin, Z., Trinh, J., ... & Small, D. M. (2021). Development of MacroPics: A novel food picture set to dissociate the effects of carbohydrate and fat on eating behaviors. Appetite, 159, 105051. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2020.105051

• Blechert, J., Meule, A., Busch, N. A., & Ohla, K. (2014). Food-pics: an image database for experimental research on eating and appetite. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 617. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00617

• Blechert, J., Lender, A., Polk, S., Busch, N. A., & Ohla, K. (2019). Food-pics_extended—an image database for experimental research on eating and appetite: additional images, normative ratings and an updated review. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 307.  https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00307

Contact Us

To obtain access to the dataset, please only use the contact form on the O'Brain Lab website. For all inquiries regarding the FinnFoodPics project, further details or any related questions, please contact Arsene Kanyamibwa.