The important thing with the sugar water is to drink it slowly so your blood sugar does not do the spike-crash trick. For me, it doesn't matter what time of day or whether it is before or after a meal, as long as there is an hour before and an hour after that is flavorless. For sugar water, that hour after starts when you finish it, not when you start it.
I also don't notice a difference between sugar water and ELOO except that I can drink more flavorless calories with ELOO than sugar water. For me it doesn't matter what type, only how many calories. ELOO alone can do the job better than only sugar water though, at least for me.
ELOO - 1 tbsp = 120 calories
sugar - 1 tbsp = 45 calories