Dietary oxidants like lipid hydroperoxides (LOOH) can perturb cellular glutathione/glutathione disulphide (GSH/GSSG) status and disrupt mucosal turnover. This study examines the effect of LOOH on GSH/GSSG balance and phase transitions in the human colon cancer CaCo-2 cell. LOOH at 1 or 5 micro m were noncytotoxic, but disrupted cellular GSH/GSSG and stimulated proliferative activity at 6 h that paralleled increases in ornithine decarboxylase activity, thymidine incorporation, expression of cyclin D1/cyclin-dependent kinase 4, phosphorylation of retinoblastoma protein, and cell progression from G0/G1 to S. At 24 h, LOOH-induced sustained GSH/GSSG imbalance mediated growth arrest at G0/G1 that correlated with suppression of proliferative activity and enhanced oxidative DNA damage. LOOH-induced cell transitions were effectively blocked by N-acetylcysteine. Collectively, the study shows that subtoxic LOOH levels induce CaCo-2 GSH/GSSG imbalance that elicits time-dependent cell proliferation followed by growth arrest. These results provide insights into the mechanism of hydroperoxide-induced disruption of mucosal turnover with implications for understanding oxidant-mediated genesis of gut pathology.