Display omitted •Intestinal oxidative stress depends on the balance of ROS.•The antioxidant defense system protects intestine from oxidative stress damage.•Phytochemicals with health effects could be developed to nutritional supplements. Oxidative stress occurs when there exists an imbalance between the generation and elimination of reactive oxygen species (ROS). As inevitable exposure to foreign substances and microbial pathogens, intestine is a key resource of ROS. Disproportionate generation and long-term exposure to ROS lead to various intestinal diseases, such as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), enteric infections, ischemic intestinal injury and colorectal cancers. Natural nutrients including vitamins, proteins, fats, minerals and phytochemicals provide numerous evidences that they can protect the health of intestine and alleviate the damage caused by oxidative stress, which can be developed as novel functional foods. This review summarized the recent research progress on the insights of the causes, mechanisms of intestinal oxidative stress and the health intervention effects of nutrients. This review has also given the prospects that the new discovered nutrients with health benefits might be developed as novel functional foods or possible nutraceutical agents.