Bile acids have been implicated in carcinogenesis of the large bowel, and since epidemiological, clinical and histopathological studies suggest a link between adenomatous polyps and cancer of the large bowel, fecal bile acid profiles were studied in 33 patients with adenomatous polyps of the large bowel and these data were analyzed with particular reference to the distribution, multiplicity, size and degree of dysplasia of the polyps. The more polyps and the greater the severity of dysplasia, the higher was the excretion of total bile acids (mean mumol/day: single vs multiple polyps, 344.8 vs 369.1; mild vs moderate vs severe dysplasia, 347.5 vs 370.0 vs 399.3). However, in patients with larger polyps, total fecal bile acid excretion tended to be lower (mean mumol/day: large vs small polyps, 267.7 vs 389.5). These differences were not statistically significant. When fecal bile acid profiles were analyzed with respect to the extent of bacterial metabolism determined from the degree of dehydroxylation and oxidoreduction, there was a large variation with no consistency in relation to the factors studied among the polyp patients. Deconjugation of bile acids in feces was almost complete without difference among the patients. These results seem to indicate that the significance of bile acid in the development of adenomatous polyps in Japanese subjects is likely to be small.