The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday that it will order food producers to phase out trans fats from all food, news sources report.

The use of trans fats has already declined dramatically in recent years, the Associated Press reported, but an average American still consumes about one gram of the substance each day.

Completely removing trans fats from foods could help save 7,000 lives and avoid 20,000 heart attacks each year, NBC reported.

Trans fats have no health benefits, according to the AP. Consuming them increases bad cholesterol in the body and lowers good cholesterol.

There is no time table on removing trans fats yet, NBC said. The FDA will hear comments for two months before setting any timelines.

"We want to do it in a way that doesn't unduly disrupt markets," Michael Taylor, the FDA's deputy commissioner for foods, told the AP. He also said the food "industry has demonstrated that it is, by and large, feasible to do."