Is there a way to check the potency of my herbs

I know herbal supplements are not regulated by the FDA so you dont know how much of the real stuff you are getting but is there any way to find out what the actual potency is of a supplement from a certain manufacturer? Or any experiments to determine this?

If you are using supplements for health, you should notice if they do not work as well as they previously did. That is pretty much the only way to tell. This is the risk you take with non-regulated items, but it really no "risk" at all because these are products found in nature. When herbs "go bad" there is no danger-they just don't work anymore. That is, if your supplements are made by filling gelatin capsules with ground herbs. If your supplements use fillers and preservatives, then you may have an issue where age could cause a problem with the additives. When man-made drugs "go bad" it is definitely dangerous because you could be putting a bad chemical into your body. However, the FDA has only been putting expiration dates on prescription and over-the-counter drugs for 20 or so years. Before that, the drugs were considered safe indefinitely. Now we are supposed to throw away our bottle at home after a year, even if it was taken out of a bottle at the pharmacy that still has two years left for its expiration date. Sounds like another way to make money to me. My former boss (a pharmacist) said that she and her husband (owner of a pharmacy and a pharmacist) take the expired Tylenol and ibuprofen home and use them because they aren't concerned about safety-they just might not be as potent.