The effects of the elemental diets Vivonex (V) and Flexical (F) on bile acid metabolism and hepatic lipids in the rat has been investigated both with ad libitum feeding and when calorie intake was limited to that of control rats (C) fed a standard diet (Oxoid 41B). Ad libitum feeding of V and F for 9 weeks resulted in a weight gain in excess of that for the control diet. After 9 weeks of isocaloric feeding the V-fed rats were significantly lighter than those fed F and C. Fecal bile acid excretion (FBA) and the fractional turnover rates for cholic acid (CA) and chenodeoxycholic acid (CDC) were measured. The elemental diets significantly reduced FBA when fed both ad libitum and isocalorically compared with the control diet, the reduction with V being significantly greater than for F. In the isocaloric feeding study both elemental diets significantly increased the half life of CA and CDC. The increase for CA was significantly greater for V than F but for CDC the effect of the two diets was the same. Thus the percentage of CDC-derived 6 substituted bile acids was greater with V than F feeding. There was a strong negative correlation between bile acid half-life and fecal excretion of metabolites for the three dietary groups indicating that bile acid pool size was unchanged by the elemental diets. A gross increase in liver lipid both histologically and chemically was found for the ad libitum fed V rats with a marked but lesser increase for F.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)