Though scientists had long assumed there existed a link between food and health, it was only after the discovery of vitamins during World War I that nutrition would develop into a quantifiable science. It was now realized that the quality of food was even more essential than quantity in preventing malnutrition. The interwar period witnessed a surge in nutrition research. As with other Western sciences, nutrition was considered universally applicable. The League of Nations developed international standards for recommended daily calorie and vitamin intake. The transmission of this knowledge to the colonies did not result in an improvement in the health of the indigenous poor. France paid scant attention to nutrition in its interwar colonial policy, instead focusing on the prevention of famine. By demonstrating its capacity to feed starving populations of the Levant in the wake of World War I, France was able to convince the League of Nations to grant it the Mandates for Syria and Lebanon. French food policy in Syria was centered on agricultural output and the emphasis on hygiene in food production. Nutrition science was spread to educated Syrians via schools and the local press, which encouraged women to serve vitamin-rich foods to their families. The reading public was able to afford such foods, many of which had long been staples for Syrian households of means, but they were out of reach for the majority of the population. By World War II, France’s mise en valeur in Syria had largely failed, and the threat of famine loomed. In June 1941, British and Free French forces overtook Vichy-led Syria. As Free France lacked funds and manpower, British troops established a shadow government. Even after food supply had stabilized, Britain’s mission in Syria grew. Though Syria had been promised independence during the 1941 invasion, the tentacles of empire were longer than ever. One of the areas of focus was the expansion in the cultivation of protective foods, particularly soybeans and ground nuts. It was not a coincidence that soy had become a big business in the U.S., which could provide experts, seeds, and surpluses, in spite of growing evidence of the detrimental effects of soy on soil. This paper will examine how nutrition science was disseminated in Syria under both French and British rule and how it was received, alongside the intersection of nutrition and British and American wartime competition to gain influence in Syria after the war.