Dr Christian Jessen branded 'fatphobic' for advising people to wear masks indoors to avoid quarantine weight gain

Experts have already warned lockdown may prove a particular stressful or triggering time for those with eating disorders or unhealthy relationships with food.

The BBC was recently criticsed for airing The Restaurant That Burns Off Calories, which directly linked items of food to the amount of time exercising it would take to “burn” them off.

One anorexia sufferer wrote that three minutes of the show “jeopardised” her recovery.

Now Dr Christian Jessen, who appears on Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies, has attracted ire for a "joke" on Twitter.

The ‘punchline’, for anyone who missed it, is that weight gain is so undesirable that people should wear surgical masks to prevent them stuffing their faces.

Ha ha...

Apparently Dr Christian – who is also known for his sculpted shirtless physique – realised that his jibe might not land well and attempted to temper it, adding:

I know I am…

But it did little to appease people, who were upset by the comment.

One disordered eating sufferer called the joke “galling,” pointing out the role played by shows Jessen presented in exacerbating fatphobia in televised entertainment.

Another Twitter user said Jessen’s remark seemed indicative of “medical fatphobia” which is when fat people experience discrimination and prejudice at the hands of healthcare professionals, which can lead to misdiagnoses and conditions going untreated.

Others pointed out the joke didn’t exactly tally with Dr Christian’s preceding message to “be kind”.

However some people, like food writer Ruby Tandoh, went for a more colourful option in responding to Dr Christian.

Dr Christian has yet to reply to the criticism directly.

However, he did like a tweet from presenter Davina McCall defending him. She wrote:

“It’s a joke. He’s a lovely man. This is a stressful time he doesn’t deserve this level of shaming . #bekind”

Maybe instead of wearing masks, celebrities should just... log off?