Although Jonah Hill has been puttering around Hollywood for several years now (thanks in large part to becoming part of Judd Apatow’s cool kid club), he very rarely makes the gossip pages. In this week’s Star, however, Jonah is making waves for a not-so-good reason. I thought Jonah was pretty great in his amusing role as a Klu Klux Klan idiot in Django Unchained, and I’m sorry to hear about the alleged after affects of his mostly-meat eating habits.

If you’ll remember, Jonah went on a major diet and lost a dramatic amount of weight shortly after he appeared alongside Brad Pitt in Moneyball. According to this week’s issue of Enquirer, Jonah is apparently so afraid to gain the weight back that he’s almost entirely cut out carbs and is basically attempting to live long term on some sort of Atkin-esque diet. As a rule, people often use low-carb diets to lose weight quickly, but those diets aren’t healthy in the long term because they’re very hard on the kidneys. In conjunction with danger to the kidneys, one side effect of cutting out carbs is a dangerous condition called ketosis, which often causes affected people to smell like acetone. So even though the Enquirer never mentions ketosis, I suspect that this condition is part of the problem of which the tabloid speaks. Allegedly, Jonah favors meals of meat laced with onions and garlic, and it’s becoming a major problem in his social circle. Poor guy:

Jonah Hill is doing his best to watch his weight, but a low-carb diet he’s been following has left him with terrible bad breath!

Although the 29-year-old Superbad star cut back on booze and greasy food as part of a bid to get in shape, his stinkmouth — which pals say is a result of his mostly-meat meals — is driving people away.

“He has rancid breath all the time,” revealed an insider. “People have started calling him ‘meat mouth’ behind his back. The sad thing is that Johan is actually superhygienic.”

As the Enquirer previously reported, 5-foot-7 Jonah tipped the scales at well over 200 pounds but dropped 40 of them in 2011 by following a strict diet and fitness regimen. He’s since gained back some of that weight and is fighting to at least maintain where he’s at now, according to the source. It’s not unusual for low-carb, high-protein diets to make your breath stink. When the body metabolizes protein, ammonia is produced. When people eat high-protein meals, there tends to be increased ammonia in their breath and urine. In large amounts, this can smell pretty bad.

“Jonah has basically cut out carbs to keep his weight down, and the staple of his diet is meat,” the insider explained. “To add flavor, he piles on garlic and onions, so his breath is toxic! He smells like a big garlic beef ball!”

Helpful pals have pointed out the problem, and Jonah has started popping breath mints — but that hasn’t helped much.

“They make him smell like a minty garlic beef ball,” said the insider. “It’s strange because he’s a really clean guy. He takes two showers a day, and he loves cologne. He doesn’t seem to realize how bad he smells and it’s taking a toll on anyone who gets too close to him.”

[From Enquirer, print edition, March 11, 2013]

Well, I hope in addition to warning Jonah about bad breath, someone convinces him to start seeing a nutritionist instead of trying to rely upon potentially harmful fad diets. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with eating carbs, and nutritionists still say that they should make up the largest portion of one’s diet. Carbs are fine, and carbs are essential. I hope Jonah learns to not fear the carbs. He seems like such a nice, fun-loving guy.

Photos courtesy of WENN