Most sodas aren’t drinks so much as water mixed with a collection of ingredients that seem like they belong in chemistry kits instead of food and beverages.

And that includes the so-called caramel color.

As I told you last year, caramel color isn’t a simple food dye, and it’s nothing like caramel candy like it’s name implies. It’s actually the byproduct of a pressurized treatment that combines sugar with ammonia. (Yes, ammonia!)

One of the “extra” ingredients created by this process is 4-methylimidazole, a chemical with such strong links to cancer that California law requires a warning label on anything that contains certain amounts of it.

And many sodas contain way more than those amounts — up to eight times what the state considers to be the safe upper limit.

Now, soda companies trying to avoid the warning label are starting to use a new version of the color that has less 4-methylimidazole.

But is that really worth celebrating? Soda now has less of a cancer-causing chemical?

And let’s face it, even if they managed to completely do away with caramel color — or at least the 4-methylimidazole — soda would still be bubbling over with cancer risk, thanks to all the sugar.

Diets high in sugar have been linked to any number of cancers — and if you’re unlucky enough to get the disease, sugar will actually help it to grow and spread. It’s like food for tumors.

Believe it or not, the risks don’t stop there.

Sodas often contain phosphates, which can pull calcium from your bones and leave you battling osteoporosis. They can also cause kidney stones and — along with that sugar — rot your teeth right out of your head.

Some sodas even contain sodium benzoate, a preservative that can cause the kind of cell damage that leads to cancer, cirrhosis, and Parkinson’s disease — just to name a few.

And the fake sugars used in diet sodas come with plenty of risks of their own — they’ve been linked to everything from cancer to migraines.

So don’t waste any time looking at the ingredients labels, trying to figure out which soda might be better than the other. Just skip them all.

That, or maybe a little brandy.

But there’s another drink that might help you get off to dreamland quicker — and it’s not what you’d expect.

It’s tart cherry juice — and a new study finds that just two cups a day can help you sleep an average of 39 minutes longer and get a 6 percent boost in sleep efficiency.

That’s the amount of time you spend in bed actually asleep, instead of wondering when you’ll fall asleep.

Twenty volunteers were given either two cups of tart cherry juice concentrate diluted in water or two cups of ordinary fruit juice every day for a week — one in the morning, and one at night.

And along with more time asleep and better sleep efficiency, the cherry juice drinkers had dramatic bumps in melatonin levels. That’s the “sleep hormone” that some people take as a supplement — and apparently, tart cherries will work almost as well.

On the other hand, it’s probably easier — and cheaper — for most people to just add a melatonin supplement.

Whatever you do, make sure a good night’s sleep is on your agenda — because poor sleep has been linked to erectile dysfunction, hypertension, cognitive decline and even an early death.

Don’t look to sleeping pills for help — they can make matters worse, with some of the most popular meds linked to horrible side effects, including sleepers who get up and engage in bizarre behavior while still actually asleep.

Go natural instead — and if cherry juice isn’t your cup of tea, try a 2:1 ratio of calcium to magnesium in the evening. This combination can help you get to sleep quicker, and sleep better once you’re out.

In addition, a supplement of valerian root or valerian tea has also been shown to help bring about a good night’s sleep — try it about 30 minutes or so before bedtime.

But in Asia, this nuisance is on the menu — and with good reason, too: Seaweed is one of the healthiest foods you can eat, and a new review of the research finds it can boost your heart health like nothing else.

Researchers looked at about 100 studies on seaweed and found that it has a similar effect on blood pressure as ACE inhibitors — but unlike prescription meds, seaweed comes with virtually no risks.

But that’s not all — not even close.

Researchers from the Teagasc Food Research Center in Dublin say the studies they reviewed show that seaweed and microalgae are as rich in bioactive peptides as dairy.

They’re also easy to cultivate, low in calories and rich in vitamins A, C, D, and E, as well as B vitamins and minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, sodium, and potassium.

And once you get over the fact that you’re eating beach debris, it can taste pretty good too. The Japanese use seaweed in nearly everything, including a simple salad of fresh seaweed tossed with healthy sesame oil and seeds.

I don’t know if seaweed is the reason they live longer than nearly anyone on the planet — all the fatty fish in the diet there probably have just as much, if not more, to do with it — but it’s an easy enough dish to replicate at home if you’re willing to give it a shot.

Along with keeping blood pressure in check, a regular side of seaweed might even help keep your weight under control by blocking the absorption of fat. One study found that rats given seaweed lost 10 percent of their body weight.

Seaweed also contains anti-inflammatory, anti-viral and antioxidant compounds. It can help beat pain, fight arthritis, lower your cancer risk, and keep cholesterol in check.

I could go on, but I think you get the point: It almost doesn’t matter what benefit you’re looking for — chances are, you’ll find it in simple seaweed… if you can stand the smell, anyway.

I just told you how the sunshine vitamin can help keep pre-diabetes from turning into the real thing — and now, a new study finds it might stop melanomas cold.

Researchers looked at data on 36,282 women between the ages of 50 and 79 who were given either 400 IU of vitamin D and 1,000 mg of calcium, or a placebo, for an average of seven years.

The study actually didn’t reveal a whole lot (more on that in a moment), but one trend stood out: Women on the vitamins who had a prior history of non-melanoma skin cancers had half the risk of melanoma than women who got the placebo.

The study didn’t find any benefit in women without a history of other skin cancers — and the study didn’t include men at all.

But there’s an even bigger problem with this one – and it’s that teensy-weensy 400 IU dose of vitamin D, which isn’t even close to what you need to boost your health and slash your disease risk.

Even the Institute of Medicine, which famously lowballed vitamin D just a few months ago, recommends 600 IUs a day — and mainstream experts agree that number is way too low.

The Harvard School of Public Health, for example, recommends a minimum of between 1,000 and 2,000 IU per day for most — and up to 4,000 IU per day for some.

That’s about as mainstream as it gets — and that’s up to 10 times the levels used in the melanoma study. If researchers ever bothered to test this real dose of D against skin cancer, my guess is that the disease wouldn’t stand a chance.

A growing number of studies have shown how higher levels of D can not only prevent melanoma and other cancers, but also slow the progression of the disease when it does strike.

Studies have also shown how vitamin D can boost the immune system, protect the heart, support the brain, ease allergies, defeat the flu and even help prevent diabetes.

Yet the mainstream tells you to avoid the sun, the single best natural source of D — and even blames it for the very
melanomas it might help prevent.

No wonder we’re sicker than ever — we’re getting awful health advice.

Take charge of your own health — get your hands on a D supplement, and don’t be afraid to spend a little more time outside.