In its most recent message to the public, the FDA expressed serious concerns about "undeclared or deceptively-labeled ingredients" cropping up in dietary supplements, many of which we've warned you about in this space.

So much so, the five major trade organizations within the supplement industry, among them the Council for Responsible Nutrition, Natural Products Association and American Herbal Products Association, joined the FDA at a news conference last week to support the agency's greater attention on safer products. To that end, FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg called on these organizations to spread the word and help them develop new strategies to combat this ongoing and very serious problem.

When you're doing your homework on choosing the best supplement for your health -- in addition to finding answers to these six questions -- remember that weight-loss, body-building and sexual enhancement products tend to be most problematic for good reason.

Products with the most serious problems as of late have commonly contained either sibutramine (Meridia) and steroids or the active ingredient used in prescription sexual enhancement meds like Viagra or Cialis.

What's more, you can also stay current with these FDA warnings, as we do, by monitoring the FDA's RSS feed too.

FDA.gov December 20, 2010

USA Today December 16, 2010