Innovative Non-Pharmacological Strategies for MASLD: Microbiome, Precision Lifestyle Medicine, and Digital Health

Metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) has emerged as a primary driver of chronic liver disease worldwide, intricately linked with insulin resistance, obesity, and systemic cardiometabolic risk. While the recent nomenclature transition from NAFLD to MASLD reflects a refined pathophysiological understanding, translating this framework into actionable, highly targeted interventions remains a critical clinical challenge. Traditional recommendations for lifestyle modification – while foundational – often suffer from low long-term adherence, generic application, and variable inter-individual efficacy.

This Research Topic addresses the urgent need to move beyond traditional lifestyle advice toward next-generation, evidence-based non-pharmacological strategies. While general lifestyle interventions have been widely discussed, significant knowledge gaps persist regarding the mechanistically targeted, personalized, and technology-driven approaches required to effectively reverse steatosis, cease metabolic inflammation, and achieve fibrosis regression.

This collection aims to bridge these gaps by gathering multidisciplinary research that integrates precision lifestyle medicine, multi-omics insights, and cutting-edge non-pharmacological modalities into mainstream MASLD management.

We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Mini-Reviews, Systematic Reviews, Clinical Trials, and Perspective articles covering, but not limited to, the following priority areas:

• Precision and Personalized Lifestyle Medicine: Tailoring nutritional, physical activity, and metabolic interventions based on genetic, epigenetic, and metabolomic profiling.
• Dietary Supplements, Medicinal Plants, and Natural Products: Evaluating the efficacy, safety, mechanisms of action, and clinical potential of standardized botanical extracts, bioactive compounds, functional ingredients, and traditional preparations for improving metabolic dysfunction, hepatic steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis in MASLD.
• Microbiome-Targeted Therapies: Advanced gut microbiota modulation (specific postbiotics, next-generation probiotics, targeted dietary fibers, and synbiotics) for mitigating liver inflammation and fibrosis.
• Digital Health & Behavioral Innovation: The clinical efficacy of mobile health (mHealth) platforms, artificial intelligence-driven adherence tools, remote metabolic monitoring, and digital therapeutics in long-term MASLD management.
• Targeting Fibrosis Regression & Disease Progression: Non-pharmacological and bio-active nutraceutical interventions specifically evaluated for their capacity to arrest or reverse liver fibrosis and reduce the risk of MASH progression.
• Metabolomics and Biomarker Discovery: Unraveling metabolic signatures that predict individual responsiveness to non-pharmacological interventions.
By highlighting these novel frontiers, this Research Topic seeks to define the future standard of non-pharmacological management in MASLD, offering actionable insights for clinicians, researchers, and public health policy-makers.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Fatty liver disease, MASLD / NAFLD, Non-pharmacological interventions, Lifestyle modification, Obesity and metabolic disorders, Microbiome Therapies, Biomarkers, Metabolomics

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.