Organic food really is better for you, a major European Union-funded study has revealed.

Undertaken by Newcastle University over the last four years, the £12 million project found that organic food tended to contain more antioxidants and fewer fatty acids - for example, organic milk had between 50 and 80 per cent more antioxidants, while organic wheat, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, onions and lettuce had 20 to 40 per cent more nutrients.

Project co-ordinator Professor Carlo Leifert said of the findings: "We have shown there are more of certain nutritionally desirable compounds and less of the baddies in organic foods.

"Our research is now trying to find out where the difference between organic and conventional food comes from.

"What we're really interested in is finding out why there is so much variability with respect to the differences. What in the agricultural system gives a higher nutritional content and less of the baddies in the food?"

According to the Soil Association, organic food and drink sales in the UK added up to around £2 billion in 2006 - growing by 22 per cent in just one year.