To disrupt the traditional compartmentalized learning of nutrition functions, a proposition for an integrative teaching at undergraduate level.

Rather than an anatomy-centered study of the nutrition functions of the body (circulation, respiration, food digestion and intestinal absorption of nutrients) - as found in undergraduate physiology textbooks - a more integrative, mechanistic approach to teaching human physiology at undergraduate level in science faculties is presented. Starting from the cell's needs for nutrients and oxygen, this proposal highlights the way in which each organ or apparatus ensures cell function. Then the fundamental physiological concepts of structure-function relationships and matter gradients can be constructed by considering the physicochemical mechanisms involved. The diversity of devices found in circulatory, ventilatory and digestive systems is then examined through the prism of the mechanisms used to maintain gradients in nutrient concentration or gas partial pressure through exchange surfaces. Finally, the systems controlling nutrition functions are studied in fluctuating physiological contexts, such as during physical exercise or fasting. The presented pedagogical approach emphasizes the integration of functions on an organism-wide scale, and focuses teaching on basic mechanisms rather than on the description of structures, while ensuring the transferability of physiological concepts. This pedagogical approach seems particularly relevant for the training of undergraduate students intending to teach biology at secondary education.