The City of New York made the bold move in July 2008 of restricting restaurants from serving foods that contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and have a total of 0.5 grams or more of trans fat per serving.

According to city health officials, the legislation has effectively decreased the amount of trans fats New Yorkers consume.  Specifically, the average amount of trans fat per purchase decreased by 2.4 grams over two years.  And, according to the Annals of Internal Medicine, 59 percent of purchases in 2009 contained no trans fats at all, compared with 32 percent of purchases in 2007.