The fountain of Jamaican youth

Had a conversation today with one of my co-workers. It’s a conversation that has taken place before.

What prompted the conversation was my co-worker’s comment that Portia, at 60 really did indeed look a lot younger (I had said so before). Her contention (as is that of my other UK co-workers) is that black people naturally look younger than other races, especially white people. In their opinion it is a natural thing endemic to black skin.

I contended that it the youthful looks are attributable to lifestyle – diet etc. From where I sit, having lived in Jamaica and also the UK, and having observed women in both places I’ve noted the following:

British Woman	Effect of looks	Jamaican Women	Effect of looks
Many of them smoke	Will dry out your skin and invite wrinkles	Most don’t smoke	Healthy skin
Desire to be very thin	Gaunt look with skin stretched over bones	Desire to be voluptuous	Less wrinkles, healthier skin
Drink a lot of alcohol, regularly	Will dry out your skin and invite wrinkles	Drink quite moderately. Drunkenness is a definite cultural no-no in Jamaica	Healthy skin
Many sit under a sun tanning light regularly	Will dry out your skin and invite wrinkles	Don’t try to tan	Healthy skin
Eat a lot of preservative laden food	Not too sure but probably not good for your constitution	Eat more natural foods – not so many pre-packaged meals	Healthier all around

From the above, I think it’s clear that the issue has nothing to do with a natural youthfulness and has everything to do with lifestyle and habits.

There’s an ad on the TV about the NHS stop smoking service and one girl on it shows just how much you can change your skin tone for the better just by quitting smoking.

What do you all think?