You're absolutely right. I've been diagnosed with low Vitamin D by my rheumatology consultant. I have 2 autoimmune diseases - hypothyroidism and Sjogrens Syndrome. The rheumatologist told me that there has been a lot of research in to Vitamin D and its hugely important to our bodies. Also, there is a link between Vit D and autoimmune diseases and lack of it exacerbates it. Yes, we do NEED sunshine. But there is obsession with high factor sunscreens and keeping out of the sun at all costs. The advice I've been given is to keep out of the sun during the hottest hours of the day and never burn, but other than that its good to get some sunshine every day. I've been prescribed a dose of Vitamin D from the hospital pharmacy (Advised that buying them in health food stores is wasting your money as its not effective at all - a pharmaceutical dose of Vitamin D is required) for 2 weeks which will boost my levels.
If Alison Young has hypothyroidism, she could well NEED some pure, unadulterated sunshine.