New products featuring eggs prove the popularity of these ingredients with formulators, according to product introductions tracked by Mintel’s Global New Products Database and reported by the American Egg Board (A.E.B.). Such introductions were up 35% compared with 2012, and most product categories posted record numbers.

The strongest Mintel category perennially for egg ingredient use is “cakes, pastries and sweet goods,” followed by “sweet biscuits/cookies,” with 158 and 70 new product introductions, respectively, for 2013. This represents a 65% and 27% increase over 2012’s categories.

While Mintel figures simply track egg usage in new products and don’t analyze the cause for the increase, Elisa Maloberti, director of egg product marketing at the A.E.B., offered some possible answers. As the “sweet” categories indicate, Americans claim to be more diet-conscious, but consumers still enjoy a touch of dessert, she observed.

“And at the heart of these indulgent sweet goods is a single ingredient, the egg,” Ms. Maloberti said. “Egg ingredients serve multiple, vital functions from aeration to binding and crumb structure, yet they add just one simple line to the label statement.”