Each year since 2004, the Functional Foods Center has held international conferences under the series "Functional Foods for the Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Diseases." The 6th annual conference held on December 4-5, 2009, at Texas Woman's University in Denton, TX, USA is entitled, "Functional Foods for Chronic Diseases: Diabetes and Related Diseases." The main goal of the 2009 conference is to bring together experts in medicine, biology and food industry to discuss 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 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 main aspects of diabetes: 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, 5. functional foods for the prevention and management of diabetes.