1. Know Your Family History and Risk Factors
Your genetic disposition to developing optical glioma may be your single-most-important risk factor. White people develop optical gliomas more frequently than black people do. If brain tumors run in your family, then you're at greater risk of developing a tumor yourself. As people age, they become more at risk of developing tumors in general.
However, optical gliomas almost always appear in young children, under the age of 20. If you come down with neurofibromatosis, you may be at far greater risk of developing a glioma. The good news in all of this is that the vast majority of optic nerve gliomas are benign; that said, the prognosis for patients can be quite variable.
2. Limit Your Radiation and Chemical Exposure
Whether you work near power lines, spend time in a laboratory that contains sources of powerful ionizing radiation or simply gab on your cell phone 12 hours every day, work to limit the amount of radiation to which you expose your brain. Epidemiological data concerning the health risks of ionizing radiation fields is scant. However, it's generally a safe bet to stay away from risky exposure (such as pressing one's nose against the microwave oven), even if definitive studies as to the long-term effects of such exposure have yet to be completed. Similarly, avoid jobs that expose you to potentially carcinogenic chemicals, such as acetone, formaldehyde and benzene.
3. Restrict Your Intake of Carbohydrates
Many recent studies on diet and nutrition suggest that carbohydrate intake may be intimately associated with cancer. In other words, the more carbs you eat (particularly simple carbs), the greater the likelihood that you'll develop certain kinds of cancer down the line, possibly including optic glioma. Some scientists hypothesize that the reason for this association is that carbohydrates often get broken down by the body into small but dangerous molecules called Very Low Density Lipoproteins (VLDLs), which can act as roaming destructive agents, causing damage at the cellular level. There is significant epidemiological data--in the form of cross cultural case histories--to lend credence to this idea that eating simple carbs can create brain cancer risks.
