A plant-based diet has been shown by Caldwell Esselstyn and T. Colin Campbell among others to be effective as a treatment of coronary disease, and generalized atherosclerosis.

Additional characteristic features include generalized atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease and stroke, hip dislocations, unusually prominent veins of the scalp, loss of the layer of fat beneath the skin (subcutaneous adipose tissue), defects of the nails, joint stiffness, skeletal defects, and/or other abnormalities.