**2. Mibyou, traditional, and current concepts**

Mibyou concept was established in ancient China more than 2000 year ago. The term was first appeared in one of the oldest Chinese medicine literature called "*Huangdi Neijing*" as a physiological condition that is not ill but not healthy [4]. It is important to treat the Mibyou before it progresses to diagnose endpoint diseases. Although this idea is quite valuable in today's preventive medicine, the Mibyou condition is hardly diagnosed by the routine clinical test to give specific disease name. The pathological definition of Mibyou was left obscure and has not been well accepted in the modern medicine, although the term Mibyou was reconfirmed and approved at the 7th Asian-Oceanian International Aging symposium in 2003. There are several efforts to identify the Mibyou condition, which are now progressed. For example, the group of Toyama University observed progressive change of gene expression in adipocyte for 3 months using genetically defined spontaneous metabolic syndrome model rat and found 147 genes showed characteristic change of expression pattern before metabolic syndromes developed [6].

On the other hand, recent development of clinical examination technologies such as biochemical assay-detecting disease markers in blood and also physical methods for imaging nidus such as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), CT (computed tomography), and ultrasound echo allow us to detect diseases, even cancers at very early stage. In such stages of disorder, the patients can behave and enjoy the life activity as normal without hospitalization. The Japan Mibyou Association currently distinguished these early stages of diseases from the diseases that need medical care with hospitalization and defined them as modern Mibyou [7]. According to the newly proposed definition, there are two types of Mibyou, the western medicine Mibyou (Modern Mibyou) and the traditional oriental medicine Mibyou (Classical Mibyou), and the Modern Mibyou is further classified into two conditions, Mibyou I and Mibyou II as shown in **Figure 1**. The Mibyou I is such conditions that individuals feel uneasy or ill but clinical examinations including blood biochemical markers

#### **Figure 1.**

*Current Mibyou concept and Mibyou-Care for healthy life expenditure.*

*Mibyou Care is A Key for Healthy Life Elongation: The Role of Mibyou-Care Functional Foods DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101073*

or imaging check do not show detectable abnormality. On the other hand, Mibyou II is defined as the condition where individuals do not feel abnormality or ill and can spend regular daily life by keeping wellness but clinical examinations show some abnormal level of disease markers or the presence of some abnormal images.

According to this new definition of Mibyou, the Mibyou I covers the condition related to classical Mibyou and several uneasy symptoms such as anxiety, sleep defect, physical pains, overweigh, fatigue, and frail. The Mibyou II on the other hand covers many familiar disorders including obesity, hypertension, hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, hyperuricemia, tiny stroke, latent cardiac failures, liver fat diseases, hepatitis virus B carrier, sarcopenia, and even early stage of cancers. By this categorization, such diseases as life style diseases and metabolic syndromes are covered by Mibyou II. This new definition of Mibyou provides more clear targets for Mibyou care practices.

#### **3. Mibyou care practices**

The health care targeting Mibyou (Mibyou-care practices) will be a reliable strategy to approach the healthy life span and to improve QOL (Quality of Life). The Mibyou I care, such as the daily behavioral habits carried out by normal healthy individuals for sustaining health, is especially important in the preventive medicine.

It is said that meal, physical excise, and brain activity (both mental and psychological) are the three factors sustaining health and wellness. Indeed, the Mibyoucare practices such as diet, exercises, acupuncture, Yoga, meditation, mental stimulation, and others are more or less related to or are targeting these factors.

The Mibyou II conditions are reflected in the disease markers such as blood sugar level, and thus are controllable by certain medical and nutritional intervention targeting these markers in collaboration with clinical stuffs. For example, diabetic condition could be managed by observing blood HBA1c level regularly as a diagnosed marker [8]. The Mibyou II-care practices for diseases prevention, amelioration, and stimulation of recovery include the actions such as remedy, nourishment, self-medication, and the medications assisted by co-medical stuffs such as physician, pharmacist, and nutritionist.

In these Mibyou care practices, the diet plays the most basic and essential part.

#### **4. Food functions**

Currently, the food functions are discussed by the following three categories. Those are 1: Nutritional, 2: Sensory, and 3: pharmacological functions [9]. The nutritional function is the basic property of foods functioning as the source of the building block for constructing body architecture (structures) and also the energy required for functioning the structure (activities). Foods usually accompany such sensory properties as taste, flavor, and color as well to stimulate appetite so that the nutrients are smoothly taken. The third category of food function is currently attracting extensive attention since a book of knowledge is getting accumulated that certain components existing in food ingredients often show pharmacological activity and they are called food factors [10]. The food factors are implicated as the very molecules taking part in the observed pharmacological functions of foods, especially of the foods traditionally used as folk medicine and the food for nourishing and astringent purpose [11].

Obviously, the nutritional and sensory roles of foods are playing essential roles in the Mibyou care, especially in Mibyou I care. On the other hand, the third role

of foods contributing to the medicinal functions of foods will take pivotal part in Mibyou II care.

The pharmacological function of foods is historically attracting much attention. "Foods are medicine" is well accepted in both oriental and western countries from ancient. One example is the oldest literature of herbs called "*Shennong bencaojing*" in China, in that 365 natural resources including botanicals, minerals, and animals were collected and classified into three categories according to their nutritional and pharmacological health benefits [12]. The listed first group is edible as food and suggested to eat routinely in the daily meals because of having potentials not only of nourishing and tonic functions but also elongating life span. The second group is not recommended to eat every day because of having a weak pharmacological activity, but is useful to ameliorate certain physiologically distorted conditions. The third group is toxic and is unable to eat, but often used as medicine to treat specific diseases.

These classifications of natural resources are interesting as reflected on the current category of the so called functional foods. The first group is the same as the dietary or nutritional supplements and the second group is overlapped to the so-called functional foods such as HOSHU, nutraceuticals, and pharmafoods. The third group is the medicine, and the resources in this group have been the target for developing clinical medicines or their prototypes [13].

From the view of the Mibyou care, the botanicals listed in the first and second categories of *Shennong bencaojing* are especially interesting, because they will be useful in functional application such as in the form of supplement and functional food.
