accumulation of each polyphenolic composition was the highest at the beginning of apple
fruit growth (Awad et al., 2001b). Furthermore, it is assumed that the amounts per fruit of
each polyphenolic composition and total phenolics in the skin may also have a similar
tendency with the ¯esh.
The skin extracts showed a markedly high scavenging activity towards both superoxide
and DPPH-radicals, and its activity remained high during fruit development. Higher
antioxidant levels have multiple bene®ts to our health (Wang and Lin, 2000) and the skin
may be the richest source for antioxidants. In our study, the radical-scavenging activity was
similar between red and yellow cultivars. The antioxidant activity of anthocyanin was a