New research suggests that an organic diet might be healthier than a conventional one.

A team of European scientists found in an experiment that rats that ate organic food were much healthier than those that ate conventional diets.

The study was carried out by researchers at the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences and Newcastle University’s School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development.

The team found that the organically-fed rats enjoyed several health benefits, in that they slept better, had stronger immune systems and were slimmer than rats fed conventional diets.

Similar tests would need to be carried out on humans to determine if organic food would have the same effect on them, according to the scientists.

However, speaking to The Journal newspaper, Newcastle University's Dr Kirsten Brandt said: "What this research shows is that clearly there are links between food and health which is more to do than with just nutrients.

"We used to think that as long as food had adequate nutrients then it was all equally good.

"What this work has shown is that this is not the whole story and we can measure differences and that they are significant. Now we need to understand what is going on.

"If people think that eating organic food makes them feel better then they are probably right."

The article Organic diet 'healthier' originally appeared on 999 Today