ICMR debunks ISKCON's soy claim over eggs
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Kolkata: Data published by the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN) has contradicted claims made by ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) that soy is nutritionally superior to eggs after the organisation defended the removal of eggs from the midday meal menu in Kolkata Municipal Corporation schools. The controversy erupted after ISKCON argued that vegetarian alternatives such as soy could fully replace eggs in school meals.
ISKCON spokesperson Radharaman Das claimed that 100 grams of soy contains 52-54 grams of protein compared with 13 grams in 100 grams of eggs and argued that a vegetarian diet is sufficient for high physical performance.
However, the Indian Food Composition Tables published by ICMR-NIN state that soy does not contain 54 grams of protein as claimed and indicate that the figure stems from confusing protein content with "biological value", a measure of protein quality rather than quantity.
Nutrition experts say protein content alone cannot determine a food's nutritional value because the body's ability to absorb and utilise protein is equally important. While soy is among the richest plant-based protein sources, egg protein has a biological value of about 94 compared with 54 for soy, making it significantly more efficient for the human body to use.
Experts also note that eggs are rich in nutrients essential for growing children, including vitamin B12, vitamin D, choline and preformed vitamin A, many of which are absent or available only in limited amounts in plant-based foods. They maintain that soy cannot fully substitute the nutritional benefits of eggs, highlighting the need for scientifically informed decisions while designing balanced school meal programmes.