Lifestyle Medicine in the Prevention and Treatment of MASLD

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide and affects nearly 30% of the adult population and 10% of the paediatric population. It is estimated that this number will double by 2030. MASLD is one of the leading causes of hepatocellular carcinoma, cirrhosis and liver transplantation, as well as a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease - heart attack or stroke being the leading cause of death in this group of patients. Due to the ever-increasing number of patients, the long-term asymptomatic course of the disease, serious complications and lack of preventive programmes, as well as insufficient awareness of the disease among patients and doctors themselves, MASLD is a growing interdisciplinary problem and a real challenge for modern medicine. The main cause of MASLD is an inappropriate lifestyle - inadequate nutrition and too little physical activity, which lead to metabolic disorders - overweight and obesity, pre-diabetes and diabetes, hypertension, lipid disorders. Lifestyle changes - appropriate, diet, weight reduction and systematic physical activity - are also the basis for the prevention and treatment of MASLD. Hence, in recent years, so much importance has been attached to lifestyle medicine, to non-pharmacological treatment as prevention of lifestyle diseases. This paper presents methods of non-pharmacological management in the prevention and treatment of MASLD.