The locals are about 70 per cent less likely to be hospitalised for heart problems and, unlike other Aboriginal communities, there has been no increase in obesity rates over the last 30 years.

This in turn means they have avoided the skyrocketing diabetes crippling large sections of indigenous Australia.

One of the study's researchers, Paul Richard, today said the results had the potential to impact greatly on how indigenous health is managed.

“When the data came in from the most recent analysis at the end of 2004 and 2005 there were some really surprising results,” Dr Richard said.

“Not only is there a much lower mortality rate but the rates of people hospitalised for heart related problems is extremely low.

“There is lower blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes and almost no obesity. The outcomes are really exciting and they have to be taken very seriously.”

The results come at a time when the federal government is reviewing the viability of outstations in the wake of ongoing reports that abuse and disease are rife in some communities.

But Utopia is made up of 16 outstations, maintained by a central health clinic that has a weekly roster for doctors who check on the Aborigines as they live a mostly traditional lifestyle.

And it is this very lifestyle that lends itself to a clean bill of health, Dr Richard said.

Starting in the early 1980s, the study is a collaborative effort involving the Menzies Research Centre in Alice Springs, Melbourne University and the Urapuntja Health Centre.

Now in its second stage, Dr Richard said researchers would consider the results collated over the last 30 years and work out why the health of this particular community, which numbers about a thousand, is in such good condition.

“We are reluctant to speculate until we are certain of all the answers, but the people have quite a unique, traditional life,” he said.

“Primary health care delivery in this region is also very good and in this way they predict and pre-empt a lot of problems.”

In addition, people on the outstations continue to hunt, fish, eat bush tucker and conduct ceremonies.

“This reduces heart disease because it reduces stress and they are active with a better diet,” Dr Richard said.

One of Utopia's doctors, Karmananda Saraswati, dismissed the suggestion that treating people on outstations was too expensive.

“You also have to cost if there was 30 to 40 per cent more cardiovascular disease and inpatient time in hospitals and more evacuations to the hospital,” he told ABC radio in Alice Springs.

“You need to factor in those costs before you say the outstation mode of living is not cost-effective.”

The second phase of the study should finish early next year.