NEW YORK CITY – Move over functional foods and make way for the new favorite: nutrient-dense foods. Those foods and beverages rich in nutrients have gained significant ground lately, Marketing Daily reports. These are the “traditional foods rooted in folklore as beneficial and delicious,” said Melissa Abbott, senior director of culinary insights for The Hartman Group.

Americans are increasingly wanting “real” foods, those fresh, healthy and portable foods for snacks, which now grab 53% of all eating occasions. For instance, hard boiled eggs (packaged pre-boiled/pre-peeled) and nori sheets for food or ginger beer and puerh tea for beverages are replacing enhanced or fortified foods.

“It’s not about functional foods — that’s not what consumers are interested in,” said Abbott. “They are looking to their snacks to provide much more of an [inherently] nutritious profile.”

Included in this trend are nuts and “ancient grains” rather than processed white flour, as well as “real” fats, such as butter or oils. Cultured foods, such as those with probiotics, are popular, too. The overall probiotics market shows a significant growth trend for the future. MarketsandMarkets predicted that around the world, probiotics would advance annually at a 6.8% growth rate from 2012 to 2017.