Moisture-absorbing heat-generating fabrics efficiently produce condensation heat due to their high hygroscopicity. However, under low-humidity conditions, evaporation of absorbed moisture causes heat loss, leading to the “sweat chill” phenomenon. This study investigated the effect of layering latent heat storage nonwoven fabrics over moisture-absorbing heat-generating fabrics to suppress temperature drop.

  Experiments were conducted in a controlled humidity chamber using temperature and humidity sensors. Results showed that when an insulating nonwoven was layered, surface temperature fell below ambient (20℃) and required 39.6 minutes to recover. In contrast, layering a latent heat storage nonwoven prevented temperature from dropping below ambient, maintaining thermal stability. These findings indicate that combining moisture-absorbing and latent heat storage fabrics effectively mitigates sweat chill by stabilizing the clothing microclimate. The mechanism is attributed to latent heat storage fibers absorbing and releasing heat during humidity changes, thereby enhancing thermal comfort in cold environments.

  This study demonstrated the effect of oral stimulation with ginger juice (GJ) on salivary secretion. Compared with distilled water (DW), oral stimulation with GJ increased total salivary secretion. Moreover, the total salivary secretion induced by GJ was higher than those by citric acid (CA) and monosodium L-glutamate (MSG). Markers of autonomic nervous activity (RR interval, standard deviation of RR intervals, and root mean square of successive differences between RR intervals) were not different between the solutions. The pungency components of GJ included 6-gingerol and 6-shogaol, with 6-gingerol being the major component. Thus, the increase in salivary secretion by oral stimulation with GJ may have been induced by pungency components, such as 6-gingerol and/or 6-shogaol. The results indicate that GJ helps increase salivary secretion and maintain oral health.