Utah man has rare disorder that makes him allergic to food

WATCH ABOVE: A man from Utah has a rare disorder that makes him allergic to food, causing him to eat hypoallergenic powdered nutrients through a tube into his stomach. Ashley Kewish reports.

Alex Visker loves to cook, but unfortunately for him he’s not able to try any of his creations because he’s allergic to food.

Visker, 19, has a rare illness called Mast Cell Activation Disorder, which is a condition that results in an excessive amount of mast cells in the body that can lead to nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain whenever he consumes food.

The young man from Lehi, Utah began noticing his severe reaction to food when he was a boy. First, it started with peanuts – an allergy that’s not uncommon – but as he got older, the list of foods he couldn’t eat continued to grow.

“I have pages of allergies,” Visker told KSL News.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I have pages of allergies," Visker told <a href="http://www.ksl.com/?sid=36125756&nid=148&title=lehi-teen-allergic-to-food-finds-new-purpose-after-story-goes-viral" target="_blank">KSL News.</a>

“When I was the most sick, I was literally in bed, curled up staring at the wall for hours,” he added.

His mom, Jodie Visker, wanted answers on her son’s condition and took him to roughly 12 different specialists. But no one could figure out what was wrong with her son, with some even suggesting Visker was imagining his symptoms.

But every time he tried to eat something, his allergies would appear, some even life-threatening

“We figured he missed over 300 days of high school,” Visker’s mom told KSL News.

Finally, Visker just decided he simply must be allergic to food.

“It has been a very long and frustrating road,” said Visker.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It has been a very long and frustrating road," said Visker.

In order to consume nutrients to remain healthy, Visker eats hypoallergenic powdered nutrients through a feeding tube that goes into his stomach.

“Every now and then, he’ll try something, just to see if his body’s calmed down enough to have something, but nothing at this point,” his mom said.

But Visker doesn’t want people to pity him because of his condition and says he’s coping with it the best way he knows how – by cooking.

“I can’t have [food], yet it’s there all the time. I’m not going to hide from food. So I was like ‘I’m going to conquer this.’”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I can't have [food], yet it's there all the time. I'm not going to hide from food. So I was like 'I'm going to conquer this.'"

Visker’s story has garnered a lot of attention since first being reported and has exposed him to meeting new people and joining a mast cell group to discuss his disorder.

“It has been an amazing experience to talk with those people and sympathize, empathize and give advice,” he said.