6th International Conference of FFC

Functional Foods for Chronic Diseases: Diabetes and Related Diseases

December 4–5, 2009, Texas Woman's University, Denton,TX, USA 

DEAR COLLEAGUES: We are very pleased to announce the 6^th International Conference “Functional Foods for Chronic Diseases”. It will take place in Denton, TX at Texas Womans University. The conference will bring together experts in medicine, biology, and the food industry to discuss the contribution of functional foods in the prevention and treatment of Chronic Diseases. The conference will cover the advances of phytotherapy and food therapy of diabetes and other related chronic diseases (cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and others), with a special focus on the creation of functional and medicinal foods with new properties.   

Welcome to Texas Woman's University

Main Conference Topics: 

1.The epidemiology and health economics of diabetes;
2.The modern mechanisms and contributing factors of diabetes;
3.Diabetes and its related complications;
4.Modern diets for diabetes: provention and control;
5.Herbs and dietary supplements for the management of diabetes;
6.Functional Foods for the prevention and management of diabetes.

REGISTRATION FEE: The registration fee will cover the Conference Proceedings (Abstracts), local transportation, and lunch and refreshments during Conference days. It will also cover a year's worth of membership to the FFC.  Lunch will be organized at university of TWU.  Click here to register

HOTEL INFORMATION: Rooms have been reserved with the "Comfort Inn, Denton, Texas". This hotel is close to Texas Woman's University, Water Works Park theme park, and the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Guests of this Denton, TX hotel can enjoy amenities and features like free continental breakfast, a free weekday newspaper, free wireless high-speed Internet access, an indoor heated pool and hot tub, and an exercise room. Reserve before December 3-6  for a special rate of US $89+ tax, per night. This rate includes breakfest and will be available until November 19^th, 2009. To make a reservation, please call (940)-320-5150 or (940)-320-5150; or use E-mail: gm.txa96@Choicehotels.com and be sure to mention the " Functional Foods Conference" to get the special rate ($89.00 per night).

HOTEL LOCATION: Comfort inn.

Welcome Letter

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Each year since 2004, the Functional Foods Center held international conferences under the series “Functional Foods for the Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Diseases”. The 6^th annual conference will be held on December 4-5, 2009, at Texas Woman's University in Denton, TX, USA. It is entitled, “Functional Foods for Chronic Diseases: Diabetes and Related Diseases.”      

The 2009 conference will bring together experts in medicine, biology and food industry to discus the contribution of functional foods in the prevention and treatment of diabetes and its related complications, such as cardiovascular diseases, obesity and other disorders. Main conference topics will include the role of nutrition in diabetes occurrence, as well as the creation of functional products for the prevention and treatment of diabetes.

Scientific Sessions will cover these topics:

1. the epidemiology and health economics of diabetes, 

2. the modern mechanisms and contributing factors of diabetes, 

3. diabetes and its related complications, 

4. modern diets for diabetes: prevention and control, and

5. functional foods for the prevention and management of diabetes.

We welcome all related professionals worldwide to join this discussion. 

We aspire to bring together innovation seekers such as investigators in biomedical field, international food related companies, and solution providers with new ideas and technologies, like food and nutrition scientists and medical doctors to solve the problems of  diabetes.
We welcome you to the 6^th international conference as an active part of a world-wide network of collaboration against obesity.
Sincerely,

Conference Organizing Committee

6^th International Conference "Functional Foods for

Chronic Diseases: Diabetes and Related Diseases"

Email: ffc_usa@sbcglobal.net

Web: www.functionalfoodscenter.net

Conference Committee:

Conference chairman:

Danik M. Martirosyan, PhD, Founder of Functional Foods Center, Academician of the International Academy of Scientific Discoveries and Inventions (USA)

Conference co-chairman:

Chandan Prasad, PhD, Professor and Chair Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences at Texas Woman's University (USA)
International Advisory Committee:

Prof. Gordana Kocic, MD, PhD, Medical Faculty at University of Nis (Serbia)

Teruyoshi T. Yanagita, PhD, Vice-President and Director of International Affair, Japanese Society of Nutrition and Food Science, Saga University (Japan)
Laszlo Halmy, MD, PhD, President of Hungarian Society for the Study of Obesity (Hangaria)
Fatemeh Malekian, PhD, Southern University Agricultural Research & Extension Center (USA)
Sabrina Hamri-Zeghichi, PhD, Faculty of Medicine, La Tronche Cedex (France)
Megh Raj Bhandari, PhD, Senior Food Research Officer, Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, Ministry of agriculture, Government of Nepal, Kathmandu (Nepal)
Martha L. Rew, R.D., Associate Clinical Professor, Dietetic Internship Director, TWU

Conference Topics

The epidemiology and health economics of diabetes

• Its epidemiology;
• Its health economics.

2. The modern mechanisms and contributing factors of diabetes

• Nutritional risk factors in the development of diabetes;

• Deficiencies in trace minerals (zinc, vanadium and chromium), vitamins (Vitamin D, Vitamin A and Vitamin B6) and Fatty Acids (EPA, DHA and GLA);

• Trans fatty acids that interfere with insulin receptors in the cells;

• Refined carbohydrates that rush sugar into the bloodstream;

• Obesity;

• Chronic stress;

• Modern diet;

• Lack of physical activity;

• Genetic.

 3. Diabetes and its related complications    

• Vascular complications; 

• Diabetes and heart; 

• Retinopathy and diabetes;

• Kidneys and diabetes;

• Functional foods for diabetes related complications;

• Periodental health and diabetes.

4.4. Modern diets for diabetes: prevention and control

•    The three cornerstones of diabetes management: diet, physical activity and medication;
•    A nutrition-based prevention of diabetes;
•    Beneficial effects of antioxidants in diabetes and related diseases;
•    Nutrition-based management of diabetes;
•    New healthy and tasty foods for diabetes;
•    Inclusion of herbal remedies in diet of diabetics;
•    The role of functional ingredients and functional products in modern anti-diabetic diet.

5. Functional Foods for the prevention and management of diabetes

• New functional food products for the prevention of diabetes;

• Functional foods rich in essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals which are crucial for diabetic patients;    

• Functional foods for the management of diabetes;

• Non-traditional plants (Gymnema, Bitter Melon, Bilberry, Birch Leaf Tea, Amaranth and others) as a source of functional food products for diabetes;

• Formulating functional food products for diabetes.

Conference Program:

Functional Foods for Chronic Diseases:  Diabetes and Related Diseases

December 4-5, 2009

Texas Woman's University, Denton, Texas, USA

2009 Conference Report
An international scientific conference, “Functional Foods for Chronic Diseases: Diabetes and Related Diseases," was held December 4-5, 2009, in Denton, Texas. This sixth annual conference was organized by Functional Food Center and hosted at Texas Woman's University (Denton, Texas).

The conference brought together experts in biology, medicine, and the food industry to discuss the contribution of functional food products in the prevention and treatment of diabetes, and its own complications like obesity and cardiovascular disorders.

The conference opened with a congratulatory speech made by the Professor Jimmy Ishee, Dean College of Health Science, Texas Woman's University.

Dr. Danik M. Martirosyan, the Founder of Functional Food Center Inc., presented a talk about Functional Foods: Definition and the Steps Necessary in Developing a Successful Functional Food Product.  Dr. Martirosyan has described; a) the necessity of a new definition of functional food, b) a new definition of functional food accepted by Functional Food Center Inc., and c) how to develop a successful functional food product.  

The researchers of the medical field presented modern mechanisms of insulin resistance, as well as of the potential of drug and food therapy. We would especially like to mention the following lecturers: Dr. Nicola Abate, MD, from the Division of Endocrinology, the University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston, Texas); Dr. Carlos Viana, clinical nutritionist from Viana Healing Center (Dutch West Indies); and Dr. Mohamed Hassan from the College of Medicine (Oman).

Dr. Nicola Abate presented "Heterogeneity in Susceptibility to Metabolic Complications of Obesity." Dr. Abate mentioned that inappropriate response of adipose tissue to excessive caloric intake leads to complex metabolic complications currently identified clinically as the metabolic syndrome. Adipose tissue dysfunction can occur at any level of body fat content or distribution.

A group of medical-biological researchers presented the works covering the study of new bioactive compounds as well as functional foods for the prevention and treatment of diabetes and diabetes-related disorders. Of special interest was the contribution of Dr. Nathan Bryan from the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, the University of Texas-Houston Health Sciences Center (Houston, Texas) and Professor Nilanjana Maulik from the University of Connecticut Medical Center (Farmington, Connecticut).

Professor Nilanjana Maulik presented “Resveratrol: Expanding Roles in Diabetic Myocardium.” Her research investigated the molecular mechanisms of RSV-mediated angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo, and the molecular mechanism of GLUT-4 translocation and glucose uptake in diabetic myocardium. Dr. Maulik’s results indicate that hypoglycemic and the cardioprotective effect of resveratrol is mediated by increased activation of Trx-1, HO-1, VEGF, and eNOS. It might play an important role in reduction of metabolic disorders caused during diabetes and heart failure.

Dr. Nathan Bryan provided an extremely important result about inorganic nitrite and nitrate, which are bioactive food components. His research data reveal novel anti-inflammatory properties of nitrite and implicate the use of nitrite as a new natural therapy for microvascular inflammation and endothelial dysfunction associated with hypercholesterolemia. Furthermore, these data provide “convincing evidence that nitrite and nitrate should be viewed as indispensable nutrients and functional foods with NO bioactivity.” It was stated that nitrite and nitrate may serve as essential nutrients for optimal cardiovascular health and may provide a treatment modality for cardiovascular disease and for the management of conditions associated with NO insufficiency, such as diabetes.

In this conference, a special report was made about medicinal herbs and other botanical ingredients with reputed blood-sugar controlling activity. Mark Blumenthal, founder of American Botanical Council (Austin, Texas), made a report on commonly available herbs, spices, and other plant-derived materials that have shown safe and promising results in modern human clinical trials in the past few decades. The presentation reviewed medicinal herbs and other botanical ingredients with reputed blood-sugar controlling activity. These include the following ingredients: banaba leaf, bitter melon, chia seed, cinnamon, fenugreek seed, ginseng root (both American and Asian), glucomannan, Gymnema, prickly pear, and others.

Another interesting speech was provided by the food industry representative Patrick Lesueur, Director of Research and Development Center at Unilever, Vlaardingen, Netherlands. For the first time at a Functional Foods Center conference, a representative of the food industry described the interest of food companies in functional and healthy foods.

We would like to mention several young scientists as well. Sinju Sundaresan, Ph.D., student from the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, TWU, (Denton, Texas); Blanche C Etoundi, Ph.D., student from the Laboratory of Nutrition and Nutritional Biochemistry, University of Yaounde (Cameroon); and Gabriela Angel-Morales, Ph.D., student from Nutrition and Food Science Department, Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas) gave very successful presentations.

We gathered medical doctors, scientists, clinical nutritionists, herbal professionals, and food industry representatives. Among attendees were researches, students, dietitians and nutritionists.

We had participants from the following countries: Armenia, Brazil, Cameroon, China, Dutch West Indies, England, India, Iran, Korea, Russia, Sri-Lanka, Nepal, Netherlands, Oman, Serbia, and the USA, among others.

An abstract book was composed by 138 authors from the following countries: Algeria, Brazil, Cameroon, China, Dutch West Indies, Colombia, France, India, Iran, Lithuania, Nepal, Nigeria, Oman, Russia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Uganda, and the USA.  The book Functional Foods for Chronic Diseases Volume 5, including presentations from the sixth international conference, will publish within a few months.

Dr. Danik M. Martirosyan, Ph.D., Founder of Functional Food Center Inc., and Honorary Research Associate Clinical Professor at Texas Woman’s University.

Dr. Chandan Prasad, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences at Texas Woman’s University.