(dietary fats) Fats are referred to in the plural because there is no one type of fat. Fats are composed of the same three elements as carbohydrates -- carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. However, fats have relatively more carbon and hydrogen and less oxygen, thus supplying a higher fuel value of nine calories per gram (versus four calories per gram from carbohydrates and protein). One molecule of fat can be broken down into three molecules of fatty acids and one molecule of glycerol. Thus, fats are known chemically as triglycerides.