Marshall Dodds

“Strangers would comment that his face had been painted”

• 2-year-old Marshall Dodds had been suffering for many months with eczema and impetigo
• Louise Dodds, his veterinary surgeon mother, suspected it could be something she was feeding Marshall due to his inconsistent flare-ups
• The 33-year-old had tried to eliminate varying foods from her son’s diet in a bid to improve his symptoms
• However, when Marshall got impetigo and needed systemic antibiotics, Louise decided to take a closer look at food intolerance† testing programmes to pinpoint exactly which foods could be causing his angry flare-ups
• After eliminating his trigger foods from his diet, such as kiwi, beef, cow’s milk and duck, his symptoms dramatically improved within just a few days
• His mum says that he can now ‘be a toddler without constant scratching and irritation’

For many months, Louise Dodd’s 2-year-old son, Marshall, had been suffering with bouts of eczema and impetigo but could not pinpoint exactly what was causing his angry flare-ups.

His symptoms were itchy and “strangers would comment that his face had been painted!” Louise exclaims.

Louise, a veterinary surgeon, sought advice from Marshall’s GP in hope that they could shed some light as to why he was suffering from these irritating symptoms at such a young age.

“They gave antibiotics and a mineral oil-based ointment, but this made his skin dry, so we sought another moisturiser which helped, but not fully,” she says.

The 33-year-old noticed that his symptoms would come and go and therefore suspected that something in his diet could be aggravating his eczema.

Over the coming months, Louise tried to eliminate different food groups from Marshall’s diet in a bid to improve his debilitating skin condition. “We tried to eliminate foods like gluten, but it still happened” Louise explains.

Here at YorkTest, we find that the average customer who shows a positive result reacts to 4-5 different ingredients. As a result, it can be challenging to pinpoint all reactions through guesswork alone.

It wasn’t until Marshall started to suffer from impetigo which required systemic antibiotics that Louise decided to confirm her two-year-old’s food triggers through YorkTest.

YorkTest’s award-winning Junior Food Intolerance* Test tests your child’s reactions to over 100 ingredients and includes one 30-minute consultation over the phone with one of our experienced nutritional therapists.

The simple finger-prick blood test revealed that Marshall was reacting to a range of foods, including kiwi, beef, duck, lemon, egg white, cow’s milk and lamb.

“Whilst I suspected dairy and egg, the rest of the results were a surprise, especially beef and lamb as he loved these foods and were a large part of his diet,” Louise says.

Equipped with YorkTest’s guidebook, food and drink diary and nutritional support, Louise began to remove his trigger foods.

“We decided to remove both [his] high and mild trigger foods and his skin improved dramatically. If he eats something with even a mild trigger as a hidden ingredient, [his] skin flares up and we would double-check the packaging to notice it was one of the triggers!” his mum explains.

Within a few days, Marshall’s skin condition dramatically improved. Louise found the elimination process ‘mainly straight-forward but [it] can be difficult when eating out [as] we have to check everything!” Louise says.

Louise mentions that taking a yorktest programme has “dramatically improved his skin and overall happiness. He can now be a toddler without constant scratching and irritation”.

Marshall followed the yorktest Junior Food Intolerance* Test