The ITV favourite came under fire from fans following his appearance on the Second Opinion segment, advising people about how best to deal with illnesses.

As he addressed mental health issues, Dr Ranj made an unfortunate faux pas.

“So many people are affected by mental health, about one in four people,” he revealed. “The commonest disorders we are seeing and talking about, particularly on Second Opinion, are depressive disorders, anxiety-related conditions.

"We are seeing more and more self-harm among young people,” the This Morning medical professional continued. “We are seeing emerging conditions like eating disorders becoming more and more popular.”

Dr Ranj went on to discuss the increase in focus on the topic of men’s mental health in the past year, in particular talking about suicide, but viewers couldn’t move past his earlier slip of the tongue.

“The Doctor just said ‘eating disorders are becoming more and more popular’ popular??? Really???” one tweeted, while another said: “Calling eating disorders ‘more popular’ is quite insensitive.”

“Unbelievable, doc on #ThisMorning just said eating disorders are becoming more ‘popular’. Poor choice of word right there,” a third raged.

Dr Ranj has since taken to Twitter to address the incident, saying: “Obviously didn’t mean to use the word ‘popular’ on #SecondOpinion this morning when referring to mental health issues.

“Meant to say ‘common’,” he added. “But my brain is a bit fuzzy from illness/lack of sleep!”

This Morning airs weekdays at 10.30am on ITV.

For those affected by any issues raised in this article visit www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk.